UC-NRLF 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

GIFT  OF- 


' 


. 


V 

OF   THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


C.  P.  BAILEY, 
One  of  the  founders  of  the  Angora  Goat  Industry  in  America. 


Practical 
Angora  Goat  Raising 


B  R  A/7 
OF  TH 

UNIVERSITY 


C.  P.  BAILEY  &  SONS  COMPANY 

SAN  JOSE,  CALIFORNIA 

1905. 


PREFACE. 


For  several  years  beginners  in  the  Angora  goat  in- 
dustry were  without  text  books,  and  even  to-day  there 
are  very  few  practical  treatises.  From  our  forty  years 
of  experience  in  farming  Angoras,  and  from  the  per- 
sonal observations  of  our  Dr.  W.  C.  Bailey,  while  in 
the  interior  of  Asia  Minor,  we  have  tried  to  select  the 
essential  points  in  the  successful  management  of 
Angora  flocks,  and  to  present  these  points  so  that 
they  may  be  used. 

We  have  given  a  brief  outline  of  the  history  of  the 
Angora  goat,  but  we  have  devoted  several  pages  to 
consideration  of  detail  in  breeding  and  kidding.  It 
has  been  our  aim  to  make  this  a  practical  text  book 
for  the  beginner  in  the  Angora  industry,  and  if  it 
proves  of  value  to  him,  it  has  fulfilled  its  mission. 

THE  AUTHORS. 


ORIGIN  AND  HISTORY  OF 
THE  ANGORA  GOAT. 


S  TO  THE  ORIGIN  and  early  history  of  the 
Angora  goat  little  is  known.  It  is  sup- 
posed  that  the  Angora  variety  descended 
from  one  of  the  classes  of  wild  goats, 
and  different  writers  have  contended  that  different 
genera  were  the  foundation  of  the  Angora  species. 
They  have  based  these  claims  upon  the  characteristics 
of  the  horns,  the  covering  of  the  body,  shape  and  size 
of  the  animal,  and  various  other  details.  Several 
agree  that  Capra  ^Egagrus  is  the  class  of  goat  from 
which  the  Angora  species  has  developed. 

KNOWN   FACTS. 

Present  history  traces  the  Angora  goat  to  the 
vilayet  of  Angora,  in  Asia  Minor,  and  to  the  country 
immediately  surrounding  this  vilayet.  Some  have 
set  a  date  over  two  thousand  years  ago,  claiming  that 
the  Angora  goat  was  introduced  into  Asia  Minor  at 
that  time,  but  the  only  authentic  history  is  that  given  by 
Tournefort,  a  French  naturalist,  employed  by  his  gov- 
ernment, who  explored  Asia  Minor  about  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  ago,  and  who  described  and  pic- 
tured the  Angora  goat  about  as  he  appears  to-day 
and  by  Evliya  Effendi,  a  Turk,  who  wrote  in  1550 


8  PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING. 

of  the  goats,  and  by  a  few  other  writers.  That  they 
have  not  changed  more  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
Turk  is  quite  content  as  he  is,  and  he  has  no  ambition 
to  breed  a  different  goat  from  what  he  has  had  for  at 
least  the  past  three  centuries. 

ASIA    MINOR. 

Before  we  consider  the  migrations  of  the  An- 
gora goat,  we  will  investigate  the  physical  conditions 
of  their  native  province.  The  interior  of  Asia 
Minor,  or  the  Angora  goat  country,  is  from  one  to 
four  thousand  feet  above  the  sea  level.  Low,  rolling 
hills  and  broad  plains,  treeless  and  almost  waterless; 
dry,  hot  and  desolate  in  the  summer,  and  covered 
with  more  or  less  snow  in  the  winter,  form  the  habitat 
of  the  Angora.  A  small  fine  fibered  sage  brush  is 
the  principal  diet  of  the  goat,  both  summer  and  win- 
ter, but  in  the  spring  this  diet  is  supplemented  with 
weeds  and  some  grass,  and  in  the  summer  some  of 
the  goats  are  driven  to  the  higher  mountains,  where 
there  are  some  scrub  pines  and  other  varieties  of 
brush.  There  is  no  winter  feeding.  The  goats  make 
their  own  living  on  the  tops  of  the  sage  brush,  which 
protrude  through  the  snow. 

The  indolent  Turks  do  make  some  provision  for 
the  shelter  of  themselves  and  the  goats  in  the  winter. 
If  a  cave  can  be  found  it  is  divided  so  that  the  goats 
share  the  quarters  with  the  humans.  Sometimes  an 


PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING.  9 

adobe  house  is  so  arranged  that  the  goats  and  other 
livestock  occupy  the  lower  part  of  the  house  and  the 
natives  the  upper  part,  or  if  there  be  but  one  floor,  a 
low  fence  is  run  across  to  keep  the  livestock  out  of 
the  living  quarters.  Great  greyish-white  wolfish 
looking  dogs,  wearing  formidable  collars  of  sharp- 
ened spikes  go  with  the  shepherds  during  the  day 
and  watch  the  flocks  during  the  night.  They  are 
used  as  a  means  of  protection  from  thieves,  and  not 
as  an  aid  in  herding.  The  flocks  camp  around  the 
cave  or  hut,  and  are  not  confined  in  corrals.  Fences 
are  almost  unknown  in  the  Angora  country.  There 
are  probably  four  or  five  million  Angora  goats  in  Asia 
Minor.  Much  of  the  central  plateau  region  of  the 
United  States  is  very  similar  to  the  Angora  region  of 
Turkey.  A  peculiar  fact  is  that  the  mohair  pro- 
duced in  the  different  sections  of  Asia  Minor  varies 
a  little,  and  the  mohair  merchants  of  Constantinople 
readily  recognize  an  appreciable  difference  in  its 
market  value.  Even  the  smaller  merchants  in  the 
country  recognize  a  difference  in  the  mohair  grown 
within  a  few  miles  of  their  town.  Some  try  to  ex- 
plain this  by  a  difference  in  food,  others  by  slight 
climatic  changes,  and  still  others  by  the  soil  forma- 
tion. Some  of  the  goats  from  the  locality  of  Gere- 
deh,  in  the  province  of  Kastamouni,  have  fleeces 
which  are  filled  with  grease.  They  are  as  black  and 
gummy  as  merino  sheep.  This  mohair,  however, 


PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING. 

scours  white.  The  most  marketable  mohair  comes 
from  Beibazar  and  Eskischehr.  That  this  difference 
in  the  quality  of  the  mohair  is  not  entirely  due  to 
climate  or  food  conditions  is  evidenced  by  the  fact 
that  Angoras  taken  from  Beibazar  to  California  still 
retain  the  same  qualities  in  the  mohair  after  four 
years  in  California.  However,  it  has  been  noticed 
that  different  parts  of  the  United  States  produce 
different  qualities  of  mohair. 

ANGORA  COATS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

The  history  of  the  Angora  goat  in  the  United 
States  dates  from  1849,  when  Dr.  James  B.  Davis,  of 
Columbia,  South  Carolina,  was  presented  with  nine 
choice  animals  by  the  Sultan.  The  Sultan  had  re- 
quested President  Polk  to  send  a  man  to  Turkey  who 
understood  the  culture  of  cotton.  Dr.  Davis  was  ap- 
pointed, and  upon  his  return  to  America  the  Sultan, 
as  a  courtesy,  presented  him  with  the  goats.  For 
many  years  after  their  arrival  in  the  United  States 
these  goats  were  considered  cashmeres.  Early  re- 
ports about  the  fleeces  and  the  goats  were  erroneous, 
and  many  were  led  to  believe  that  the  fleeces  from 
these  goats  were  worth  $8  per  pound,  and  that  the 
goats  would  shear  from  six  to  eight  pounds  per  year. 
Dr.  Davis  did  not  do  very  well  with  the  goats.  He 
crossed  his  Angora  buck  onto  some  of  the  native 
common  goats,  and  sold  some  of  the  cross-bloods  and 


12*  PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING. 


possibly  some  of  the  original  importation  to  various 
parties,  but  in  1854,  Col.  Kichard  Peters,  of  Atlanta, 
Georgia,  secured  most  of  the  Davis  goats.  To  Col. 
Peters  really  belongs  the  credit  of  keeping  the  Angora 
breed  in  existence  in  the  United  States  up  to  the 
early  sixties.  Col.  Peters  was  very  fond  of  his  An- 
goras, and  he  continued  to  own  and  run  them  up  to 
the  time  of  his  death.  He  made  a  very  creditable 
exhibit  at  the  New  Orleans  World's  Fair  in  1885. 

THE  CHENERY  IMPORTATIONS. 

W.  W.  Chenery  of  Belmont,  near  Boston,  Mas- 
sachusetts, is  supposed  to  have  made  the  next  two 
importations  in  1861.  No  one  seems  to  know  exactly 
how  many  goats  Mr.  Chenery  imported  or  what  be- 
came of  these  lots.  Mr.  Thompson  quotes  the  Mas- 
sachusetts Ploughman  as  saying,  "The  first  of  the 
two  lots,  consisting  of  thirty  nine  animals,  was  ship- 
ped from  Constantinople  on  the  26th  of  March,  1861, 
and  arrived  at  Boston  on  the  15th  of  May,  except  two 
animals  which  died  on  the  passage.  The  second  lot 
consisting  of  forty  one  head,  left  Constantinople  on 
the  6th  of  October,  1861,  and  arrived  at  Boston  on 
the  25th  of  November  with  the  loss  of  only  one  on 
the  voyage.  In  the  whole  flock,  eighty  in  all,  there 
were  about  a  dozen  males,  and  all  the  animals  winter- 
ed well." 

It  is  generally  supposed  that  Mr.  Chenery  made 
another  importation  in  1866,  of  about  twenty  head. 


QQ 


14  PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING. 

THE  BROWN  AND  DIEHL  IMPORTATION. 

The  next  importation  of  practical  importance,  al- 
though it  was  claimed  that  nine  head  were  received 
about  1861,  by  one  Stiles,  was  made  by  Israel  S.  Diehl, 
a  former  U.  8.  consul  and  0.  S.  Brown,  of  Newark, 
New  Jersey,  about  1868.  Mr.  Diehl  was  commis- 
sioned by  the  United  States  government  to  investi- 
gate the  industry  in  Turkey,  and  he  secured  a  lot  of 
Angoras,  variously  estimated  at  from  one  hundred  to 
one  hundred  and  sixty  head.  Mr.  C.  P.  Bailey  fur- 
nished the  money  for  the  transportation  of  these 
goats  to  California.  He  says,  "Some  were  fairly  good 
and  some  were  only  ordinary.  They  were  of  medium 
size,  and  with  the  exception  of  the  neck,  tolerably 
well  covered  with  fleece,  which  however  had  a  scat- 
tering of  kemp  throughout.  They  were  conceded 
to  be  the  best  brought  to  California  up  to  that  time." 
Some  of  these  bucks  had  been  tampered  with  and 
were  sterile. 

EUTICHIDES    IMPORTATION. 

This  shipment  followed  the  Brown  and  Diehl 
importation,  and  consisted  of  between  one  hundred 
and  fifty  and  two  hundred  animals.  A.  Eutichides, 
was  a  native  of  Turkey,  and  claimed  that  he  had  some 
fine  goats,  but  he  had  an  immense  amount  of  trouble 
with  his  Angoras,  and  lost  a  good  many.  They  were 
held  in  Virginia  for  some  time,  and  then  were  sent  to 
Sacramento,  California,  and  were  afterwards  sold  by 


PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING.  15 

the  express  company,  at  public  auction,  at  very  low 
prices.  This  was  about  1873.  It  was  generally  be- 
lieved by  old  California  breeders  that  some  of  the 
goats  offered  at  this  sale  were  cross-bloods  of  Califor- 
nia origin.  The  blood  of  this  importation,  however, 
has  been  widely  scattered  over  the  Pacific  Coast. 

THE  HALL  AND  HARRIS  IMPORTATION. 

In  1876,  John  S.  Harris,  of  Hollister,  California, 
returned  from  a  perilous  journey  around  the  world 
in  quest  of  new  Angoras.  He  found,  the  Thibet 
goats  in  the  Himalaya  Mountains,  and  finally  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  some  goats  at  Angora,  in  Asia 
Minor.  He  secured  two  bucks  and  ten  does,  and 
brought  them  safely  to  California.  That  was  really 
the  first  time  an  American  had  entered  Asia  Minor 
to  study  the  Angora  industry,  as  it  was  understood 
Mr.  Diehl  had  secured  Turks  to  go  into  the  interior 
for  him. 

THE    JENKS    IMPORTATION. 

This  was  a  small  importation  of  Angoras,  sup- 
posed to  have  been  three  animals,  made  by  C.  W. 
Jenks  of  Boston,  and  sold  to  Col.  Peters  of  Georgia. 
They  were  supposed  to  have  come  from  Geredeh,  in 
the  interior  of  Asia  Minor,  and  they  arrived  in  the 
United  States  in  1880.  The  mohair  from  these  goats 
was  not  considered  very  good,  and  the  importation 
was  not  regarded  as  very  important. 


16  PRACTICAL    ANGORA    GOAT    RAISING. 

THE  SHULTS  IMPORTATION. 

This  was  the  first  importation  made  from  South 
Africa  to  the  United  States  and  arrived  in  1886.  There 
were  two  bucks  and  two  does,  and  they  went  to  Fink 
&  Company,  of  Texas.  There  was  a  great  deal  of 
question  about  this  importation,  and  so  far  as  is  known 
it  was  of  no  value  to  American  flocks. 

THE  C.  P.  BAILEY  &  SONS   CO.   IMPORTATIONS. 

In  1893,  the  first  importation  of  Angora  goats 
from  South  Africa,  which  was  of  value  to  American 
flocks,  arrived.  The  two  bucks,  Pasha  and  Dick,  which 
were  secured  by  C.  P.  Bailey  from  R.  Cawood,  were 
sired  by  the  great  buck  Sam.  Mr.  Schreiner  says, 
"Sam  was  born  in  1888,  and  sheared  as  a  three  year 
old,  at  twelve  month  growth,  15  pounds  2  ounces.  He 
was  exhibited  for  many  years  at  all  chief  Agricultural 
shows  and  was  never  beaten  but  once,  a  judgment 
reversed  at  a  subsequent  show  in  the  same  year.  Sam 
was  the  most  famous  goat  in  South  Africa;  with 
splendid  weight  of  fleece,  he  combined  a  fineness  of 
fiber  rarely  seen  in  an  old  ram." 

Pasha  developed  into  a  great  sire  and  his  get  has 
been  distributed  into  nearly  every  State  in  the  Union, 
Canada,  Mexico  and  Australia.  Without  doubt  Pasha's 
blood  courses  through  the  veins  of  more  Angoras 
than  any  sire  ever  imported.  He  was  acknowledged 
by  every  one  to  be  the  best  individual  ever  brought 


18  PRACTICAL  ANGOKA  GOAT  RAISING. 

to  America.  Mr.  Landrum,  who  had  seen  most  of  the 
Angoras  brought  from  Turkey  and  who  saw  Pasha  at 
San  Jose,  California,  in  1899,  pronounced  him  the 
most  perfect  goat  he  had  ever  seen  and  a  much  better 
goat  than  any  which  had  ever  come  to  America  from 
Turkey.  He  bought  some  of  Pasha's  get  for  his  own 
flock. 

In  1899,  the  buck  Capetown  was  imported  by  Mr. 
Bailey  from  South  Africa  to  secure  certain  points. 
Size  and  a  little  "yolk,"  together  with  the  covering, 
fineness,  freeness  from  kemp,  ringlets  and  eveness 
were  especially  desired.  Capetown  has  been  a  great 
sire  and  is  still  in  fine  condition  on  the  Bailey  farms. 

THE   ASIA   MINOR    COATS. 

In  1901,  Dr.  W.  C.  Bailey,  armed  with  an  hono- 
rary commission  from  the  United  States  Department 
of  Agriculture,  personally  visited  every  goat-raising 
section  of  Asia  Minor,  and  after  seeing  hundreds  of 
thousands,  and  examining  minutely  hundreds,  secured 
and  succeeded  in  exporting  two  bucks  and  two  does. 
The  Sultan  had  passed  an  edict  in  1881,  prohibiting 
the  export  of  these  animals,  as  he  hoped  to  keep  the 
industry  for  Asia  Minor.  The  undertaking  was  a 
hazardous  one,  and  the  expedition  was  fought  with 
many  and  almost  insurmountable  difficulties.  Asia 
Minor  is  alive  with  bandits,  and  to  hold  a  foreigner 
for  ransome  is  a  favorite  passtime.  Then,  too,  a 


20  PEACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING. 

Christian's  life  is  not  considered  of  much  value  by  a 
Mohamedan.  The  goats  were  transported  for  miles 
on  mule  and  camel  back,  carried  across  the  Bosphorus 
under  a  boat  load  of  hay,  disfigured  by  shearing  and 
powdered  with  coal  dust,  transported  through  the 
streets  of  Constantinople  in  closed  carriages  protected 
from  police  molestation  by  the  "golden  wand,"  and 
finally  condemned  by  the  Italian  Government  because 
no  health  certificate  accompanied  them  from  point  of 
shipment,  but  eventually  landed  in  California  in  1901. 
The  bucks  Beibazar  and  Kjutiah,  and  the  does  Moho- 
litch  and  Eskischehr  find  the  climate  of  California 
suited  to  their  wants.  These  four  goats  cost  over 
$5,000  landed  in  California. 

Beibazar  impresses  his  qualities  markedly  on  his 
offspring.  His  get  won  the  Sweepstake  prizes  at  the 
California  and  Oregon  State  Fairs  in  1904,  and  the 
championship  for  two-year-old  buck  at  the  World's 
Fair  at  St.  Louis,  U.  S.  A.,  in  1904 

THE  LANDRUM  IMPORTATION. 

In  1901,  Wm.  M.  Landrum  imported  two  bucks 
from  South  Africa.  Their  get  has  been  quite  widely 
distributed  in  America,  and  has  been  of  considerable 
value. 

THE    HOERLE    IMPORTATION. 

In  1904,  G.  A.  Hoerle  imported  about  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty  head  from  South  Africa.  A  few  of 


l 


22  PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING. 

these  goats  were  exhibited  at  the  St.  Louis  World's 
Fair,  and  some  of  them  have  been  distributed  to 
American  breeders.  A  large  part  of  them  are  now 
in  New  Jersey,  and  just  what  their  effect  will  be  on 
American  flocks  remains  to  be  seen. 

ANGORA  COATS  IN  SOUTH  AFRICA. 

In  1838,  Col.  Henderson  made  the  first  importa- 
tion of  Angora  goats  into  South  Africa,  but  while 
the  number  reaching  the  Cape  was  fourteen,  yet  only 
two  proved  to  be  perfect  animals,  a  doe  and  her  kid. 
The  twelve  bucks  seem  to  have  been  tampered  with, 
and  they  would  not  breed.  Mr.  Schreiner  says:  "But 
for  the  fact  that  there  were  several  million  Boar  goats, 
thoroughly  accustomed  to  the  country,  to  furnish  in- 
numerable ewes  for  grading  up  purposes,  the  indus- 
try would  still  have  been  in  its  infancy."  It  was 
years  before  any  more  Angoras  were  imported  into 
South  Africa. 

The  second  importation  into  Cape  Colony  was 
made  by  Messrs.  Mosenthal  in  1856,  and  thirty  An- 
goras reached  their  destination.  Mr.  Schreiner  re- 
ports that  some  of  these  goats  were  sold  at  public 
auction  and  brought  about  $350  to  $400  each. 

The  third  importation  was  made  by  Sir  Titus 
Salt,  the  English  manufacturer  of  mohair,  and  ar- 
rived in  South  Africa  in  1857.  Dr.  White  had 
charge  of  these  after  they  reached  the  colony. 


24  PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING. 

The  fourth  importation  consisted  of  about  thirty- 
five  animals,  and  was  made  about  1858  by  Mr.  W.  E. 
Thompson.  These  were  considered  very  fine  animals, 
and  were  quite  different  from  any  previously  im- 
ported. 

Ten  years  later  in  1868,  another  importation  was 
made  by  South  Africa  and  from  then  on  to  1880  be- 
tween twelve  and  fifteen  more  lots  were  secured,  some 
of  them  consisting  of  hundreds  of  animals.  In  the 
twelve  years,  up  to  1880,  over  three  thousand  goats 
were  received  in  South  Africa  from  Asia  Minor. 
Some  of  them  brought  as  high  as  $2,200  each. 

During  the  next  fourteen  years  there  was  a  lack 
of  importations  into  the  Colony.  In  1894,  the  first 
lot  of  American  Angora  goats,  six  head,  were  secured 
from  C.  P.  Bailey  of  San  Jose,  California.  They  were 
sold  to  the  Cape  farmers  by  the  importers  at  satis- 
factory prices,  and  in  June,  1895,  another  lot  of 
twenty  bucks  were  secured  from  Mr.  Bailey  for  $1000 
cash.  These  bucks  had  a  hard  trip,  and  shed  their 
fleece,  but  they  were  sold  by  the  importer  later. 

In  1895,  another  importation  of  one  hundred  and 
sixty-five  head  were  secured  by  consent  of  the  Sultan 
from  Asia  Minor.  In  1896  another  importation  of 
sixty-three  head  were  landed  and  sold  to  the  Cape 
farmers.  The  highest  priced  buck  of  this  lot 
brought  about  $1,850,  and  the  highest  priced  doe 
about  $1,000.  These  goats  were  not  considered  ex- 


PEACTICAL  ANGOKA  GOAT  EAISING.  25 

tra,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  of  the  tops.  They 
were  not  uniform,  the  breeches  were  bad,  bellies 
deficiently  covered,  and  they  carried  considerable 
kemp. 

ANGORAS  IN  OTHER  COUNTRIES. 

Even  before  the  arrival  of  Angora  goats  in  South 
Africa  they  had  been  tried  in  Holland,  France  and 
England.  Australia  also  imported  some  in  1856,  but 
the  industry  has  not  grown  to  any  extent  in  any  of 
these  countries.  There  have  been  some  Angoras  ex- 
ported to  Australia  from  America  since  1900.  Can- 
ada, Mexico,  Alaska,  and  some  of  the  Pacific  Islands, 
have  small  flocks  of  Angora  goats  at  the  present 
time.  The  start  has  been  obtained  largely  from  Cal- 
ifornia. 


HAT  part  of   the  fleece  of  the  Angora 
goat,  which  at  a  year's  growth  is  com- 
posed of  long,  lustrous,  elastic  fibers, 
is  called  Mohair.     It  may  be  more  or 
less  curled,  but  it  is  readily  distinguish- 
able from  that  part  of  the  fleece  of  the  Angora  which 
is  composed  of  short,  stiff  fibers,  known  as  kemp. 

The  word  mohair  probably  has  its  origin  in  mod- 
ern times,  as  the  Turkish  word  for  mohair  is 
tiftick.  A  theory  which  is  advanced  by  Mr.  George 
Gatheral  of  Constantinople,  and  which  is  tenable,  is 
that  the  early  Dutch  traders  who  visited  Angora, 
found  the  native  clergy  wearing  a  gown  made  of  mo- 
hair. The  Turks  called  the  cloth  "  mahr,"  and  it  is 
possible  that  the  traders  applied  this  word  to  the  raw 
material.  If  this  be  so,  the  English  hare  corrupted 
the  word  into  the  present  term  mohair. 

The  color  of  mohair  varies  in  different  localities 
and  on  different  individuals.  In  the  vilayet  of  Ko- 
niah,  in  Asia  Minor,  is  a  breed  of  goats  producing  a 
brownish  colored  mohair.  This  material  is  sold  upon 
the  market  as  Koniah  mohair.  The  Koniah  goat,  how- 
ever, has  been  rapidly  disappearing,  as  the  herdsmen 
found  that  the  foreign  demand  was  for  white  mohair, 


PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING.  27 

and  they  have  been  crossing  the  white  Angora  bucks 
on  the  brown  Koniah  does.  There  are  still  over  one 
hundred  thousand  pounds  of  Koniah  mohair  produced 
each  year.  In  the  Angora  flocks  of  Asia  Minor  one 
always  finds  some  colored  goats.  Black,  blue,  brown 
or  red,  usually  with  an  admixture  of  white,  are  the 
common  colors.  The  same  thing  may  be  said  of  the 
American  flocks  of  Angoras.  One  may  have  been 
breeding  white  Angoras  for  years  when,  without  ap- 
parent cause,  a  colored  kid  is  dropped.  Then  color 
of  the  soil  may  give  the  mohair  a  peculiar  tinge,  but 
this  usually  scours  out.  The  kemp  in  Asia  Minor 
is  sometimes  a  different  color  from  the  mohair.  The 
kemp  may  be  red  or  black  and  the  mohair  white. 
White  mohair  is  what  the  manufacturer  wants.  If 
he  wishes  to  make  colored  goods,  he  can  dye  white 
whatever  color  he  wishes,  but  a  colored  mohair  can 
only  be  used  for  certain  colored  goods. 

GRADES   AND    GRADING   OF    MOHAIR. 

In  Turkey,  after  the  fleece  is  shorn,  the  owner 
packs  each  fleece  separately  in  sacks.  He  picks  out 
the  tag  locks,  colored  fleeces  or  objectionable  mohair, 
and  after  washing  it,  or  making  it  more  fit  for  mar- 
ket, he  packs  this  in  a  sack  by  itself.  Every  village 
has  its  buyers,  usually  Greeks  or  Armenians,  and 
there  are  a  few  traveling  buyers.  These  men  grad- 
ually collect  the  mohair.  Men  who  have  more  money 


28  PKACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING. 

than  they  need  put  that  money  into  mohair,  as  mo- 
hair is  always  salable,  and  it  is  so  bulky  that  there  is 
not  much  danger  of  it  being  stolen.  There  are  so 
many  robbers  in  Turkey  that  nothing  is  absolutely 
safe.  One  coffee  house  keeper  in  a  small  village  sent 
about  six  dollars  down  to  a  larger  place,  as  he  was 
afraid  to  keep  so  much  money  in  his  house.  When 
the  mohair  is  collected  in  the  larger  towns  it  is  again 
sorted,  care  being  taken  not  to  mix  lots  from  differ- 
ent sections  of  the  country.  It  is  then  forwarded 
to  Constantinople  of  Ismidt,  which  is  on  the  Sea  of 
Marmara,  near  Constantinople.  Here  expert  sorters 
go  over  the  lots  again.  They  do  not  break  up  the 
fleece,  but  they  collect  fleeces  which  are  about  the 
same  and  from  the  same  district — for  instance,  Beiba- 
zar,  Kjutiah,  Kastamonia,  Eskischehr,  etc.  These 
fleeces  are  then  packed  in  bags  and  marked  x  -  xx  -  xxx, 
or  lettered  a,  b,  AA,  or  numbered  1,  2r  3,  etc.  The 
mohair  is  then  ready  for  exportation.  It  can  be 
readily  seen  that  a  manufacturer  who  wants  a  par- 
ticular kind  of  mohair  can  get  exactly  what  he  wants, 
if  he  knows  the  kind  of  mohair  which  comes  from 
the  different  districts,  and  the  grade  of  mohair  which 
is  put  up  under  a  certain  mark  by  a  certain  firm.  He 
can  order  of  Mr.  B.  one  hundred  bags  XX  Beibazar 
mohair,  and  he  knows  what  he  is  going  to  find  when 
he  opens  the  bags.  There  is  a  large  room  in  Con- 
stantinople where  a  gang  of  men  are  almost  con- 


PKACTICAL  ANGOKA  GOAT  BAISING.  29 

stantly  at  work  sorting  mohair.  The  commission 
men  have  their  store  rooms  around  this  central  room; 
when  the  sorters  finish  with  Mr.  A's  lot  they  com- 
mence to  sort  for  Mr.  B.  Thus  the  same  men  sort 
all  the  mohair,  and  this  insures  a  uniformity  of  grade. 
In  America  the  plan  of  handling  is  somewhat 
different.  It  will  be  easier  to  tell  what  should  be 
done  than  what  is  done.  Until  each  grower  becomes 
something  of  an  expert  sorter,  or  until  we  have  cen- 
tral depots,  where  the  mohair  can  be  properly  graded, 
the  grower  should  roll  the  fleeces  separately;  they 
should  not  be  tied,  and  put  them  in  a  bag  or  bale. 
He  should  pick  out  the  tag  locks,  mohair  discolored 
or  clotted  with  urine  or  faeces,  the  colored  fleeces, 
burry  mohair  or  very  kempy  fleeces,  and  after  prepa- 
ration, put  them  in  a  separate  parcel.  Any  kind  of  a 
bur  or  seed  which  sticks  in  the  mohair  must  be 
picked  out  by  hand.  If  the  manufacturer  has  to  do 
this,  he  puts  a  price  on  the  mohair  which  will  leave 
him  plenty  of  margin.  That  is,  he  pays  the  grower 
about  one-half  as  much  as  the  mohair  would  be  worth 
if  it  were  free  from  this  foreign  material.  If  the 
mohair  is  very  burry,  it  has  to  be  treated  chemically, 
and  this  spoils  the  luster.  Sometimes  the  grower 
can  make  good  wages  by  having  the  burs  picked  out 
before  the  animals  are  shorn.  One  man  can  pick  the 
burs  out  of  from  fifteen  to  twenty-five  animals  a  day, 
if  there  are  not  too  many  burs  in  the  mohair.  If  the 


30  PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING. 

tag  locks  can  be  cleaned  sufficiently  by  washing,  they 
are  of  some  value;  but  if  not,  they  are  hardly  worth 
the  expense  of  shipping. 

The  mohair  shorn  from  kids  should  be  kept  in 
parcels  by  itself,  as  it  is  usually  finer  and  worth  top 
prices.  That  of  the  does,  if  it  differs  from  that  of 
the  wethers,  should  be  packed  separately.  When  the 
mohair  is  received  by  the  mill  it  is  sent  to  the  sorting 
room. 

SORTING   BY    THE   MANUFACTURER. 

Each  goat's  fleece  is  made  up  of  a  variety  of  dif- 
ferent grades  of  mohair.  Before  a  fleece  can  be  spun 
it  must  be  separated  into  these  different  grades  as 
nearly  as  possible,  and  this  is  done  by  expert  sorters, 
who  select  from  the  raw  material  about  seven  differ- 
ent degrees  of  fineness  of  fiber.  They  also  take  into 
consideration  freeness  from  kemp  and  color.  In 
separating  the  fleece  much  dust  is  liberated,  and  as 
some  mohair  is  liable  to  carry  the  baccilus  of  an- 
thrax, or  other  dangerous  material,  this  dust,  if  al- 
lowed to  circulate  in  the  air,  would  become  a  serious 
menace  to  the  health  of  the  sorters.  Wool  sorters' 
disease  is  by  no  means  uncommon,  and  one  of  the 
American  mill  owners  reported  that  his  sorters  had 
such  a  dread  of  a  foreign  mohair  which  came  packed 
in  a  distinctive  package,  that  he  had  to  stop  handling 
this  particular  lot,  although  it  was  profitable  stuff  to 
spin. 


II 


32  PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING. 

To  obviate  this  danger  as  far  as  possible  each 
man  opens  the  fleeces  on  a  table  covered  with  wire 
screen,  under  which  circulates  a  strong  exhaust  cur- 
rent of  air  which  is  mechanically  generated.  Thus 
small  foreign  particles  and  dust  in  the  fleeces  are 
drawn  downward.  When  the  fleece  is  opened  the 
the  sorter  selects  that  part  of  the  fleece  which  is 
known  to  be  the  coarsest,  i.  e.,  the  breech  and  a  strip 
along  the  center  of  the  back,  and  puts  this  in  one  lot. 
Next  he  selects  a  narrow  strip  along  the  side  of  the 
fleece,  which  is  known  to  be  the  finest  part  of  the 
fleece,  and  puts  this  in  another  lot.  Now  the  neck 
and  the  belly  are  separated  and  thrown  into  their 
classes.  If  the  whole  fleece  were  a  fine  one,  and  free 
from  kemp,  it  would  be  sorted  in  the  same  way,  but  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  fleece  would  go  into  proportionately 
higher  classes.  The  lots  which  these  sorters  make 
are  known  to  spin  comparatively  definite  qualities 
of  yarn.  Thus  the  low  breech  and  the  back  of  most 
fleeces  will  not  spin  over  No.  20  to  No.  24  yarns,  and 
the  sides  of  good  fleeces  are  fine  in  fiber  and  will 
spin  No.  40  to  No.  60  yarn. 

The  quantity  of  mohair  which  one  man  can  sort 
varies  considerably,  according  to  the  class  of  mohair 
which  he  is  given  to  work  upon.  One  mill  estimated 
that  experts  can  sort  between  two  and  three  hundred 
pounds  of  domestic  mohair  a  day,  and  that  it  costs 
about  a  cent  a  pound  to  thus  separate  the  fleece. 


PRACTICAL    ANGOEA    GOAT    RAISING.  33 

After  the  fleeces  are  graded,  the  mohair  is  ready  to 
be  sent  to  the  mill  proper  for  scouring  and  spinning. 

SCOURING. 

To-day  the  process  of  washing  or  scouring  the 
fleece  is  done  by  machinery.  The  mohair  is  fed  into 
a  machine  in  which  revolve  paddles,  which  thoroughly 
mix  the  fiber  with  the  liquid  in  this  machine.  At 
the  opposite  end  from  where  it  was  fed  in,  the 
mohair  is  rolled  out  over  warm  rollers,  and  it  is  ready 
to  be  spun.  It  is  claimed,  and  with  some  justice, 
that  American  mohair  loses  or  shrinks  about  12%  to 
20%  while  passing  through  this  washing  machine, 
and  that  Turkish  mohair  only  shrinks  about  13%. 
This  may  be  due  to  the  fact  that  some  of  the  Turkish 
hair  had  been  washed  before  it  was  shipped  to  mar- 
ket, and  that  by  previous  sorting  some  of  the  dirt  had 
fallen  out  of  the  mohair.  Then,  too,  some  of  the 
American  growers  are  not  very  careful  to  keep  the 
fleeces  clean.  Straw,  sticks,  hats,  and  even  stones 
have  been  found  in  some  domestic  stuff. 

MIXING. 

After  the  mohair  is  thoroughly  cleaned  it  is 
ready  for  spinning  or  carding.  In  order  to  spin  the 
fibers  most  economically,  evenly  and  to  the  best  ad- 
vantage, some  of  the  mills  mix  different  qualities  of 
mohair  of  about  the  same  fineness.  For  instance, 
Turkish  mohair  is  mixed  with  Texas  and  California 


34  PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING. 

stuff,  or  Oregon  is  mixed  with  Iowa  material.  The 
spinning  qualities  of  mohair  from  different  sections 
varies,  and  this  mixing  tends  to  give  uniformity. 
After  the  fibers  have  been  mixed  to  suit,  the  mohair 
is  run  through  straightening  machines  in  prepara- 
tion for  the  combing  process. 

FIRST    OR    NOBLE    COMB. 

This  comb  is  so  arranged  that  about  two  and  a 
half  inches  of  the  base  of  all  of  the  mohair  fibers, 
and  any  other  fibers  which  may  be  mixed  with  them, 
are  held,  the  ends  of  the  fibers  which  are  longer  than 
two  and  a  half  inches,  hang  freely  and  are  caught  in 
a  revolving  machine  and  dragged  loose  from  the 
combs  which  hold  the  base  of  the  fiber.  Thus  only 
those  fibers  two  and  a  half  inches  long,  or  less,  are 
left  in  the  first  comb.  The  longer  fibers,  or  tops  as 
they  are  now  called,  to  distinguish  them  from  the 
noil,  or  short  fibers,  are  collected  and  are  again 
passed  through  a  second  comb. 

SECOND  OR    LISTER   COMB. 

Much  the  same  process  as  was  gone  through  with 
in  the  Noble  comb,  is  repeated,  except  that  now 
only  the  Noble  top  is  combed,  and  as  all  of  the  fibers, 
less  than  two  and  a  half  inches,  have  been  removed 
from  this  mohair,  the  comb  is  set  so  that  any  fibers 
shorter  than  four  or  five  inches,  shall  be  held  as  noil, 
and  only  those  fibers  which  are  longer  than  four  or  five 


PRACTICAL  ANGOEA  GOAT  RAISING.  35 

inches  shall  be  included  in  the  top.  This  comb- 
ing completed,  we  have  a  collection  of  mohair  fibers 
none  of  them  less  than  about  five  inches  in  length. 
This  top  is  now  ready  to  spin.  This  combing  is  ren- 
dered necessary  by  the  fact  that  all  of  the  mohair  con- 
tains an  admixture  of  kemp,  and  kemp  cannot  be  spun 
with  the  finer  grades  of  mohair.  In  getting  this  kemp 
out  of  the  mohair  many  of  the  short  mohair  fibers 
are  lost,  so  that  combing  is  an  expensive  process.  It 
costs  in  time,  labor  and  mohair. 

SPINNING. 

Many  strands  of  this  Lister  top  are  now  drawn 
down  into  a  single  thread.  This  thread,  if  the  fibers 
comprising  it  are  coarse,  may  have  some  projecting 
ends,  which  give  it  a  rough,  uneven  appearance,  and  if 
so,  these  ends  are  burned  off.  The  thread  is  passed 
through  a  gas  flame  at  a  given  rate  of  speed  by  ma- 
chinery, and  the  projecting  ends  are  singed.  This  is 
called  genapping.  The  yarn  is  now  ready  for  manu- 
facturing. In  Bradford,  England,  there  are  mills 
which  only  spin  the  yarn.  Their  trade  is  with  the 
manufacturers,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  and  it  is 
a  known  fact  that,  while  France  and  Germany  manu- 
facture much  plush  and  braid,  they  buy  all  of  their 
yarn  from  Bradford. 

CARDING. 

Short  mohair,  that  is,  mohair  less  than  six  inches 
long,  is  not  run  through  combs,  as  above  described. 


OF  THP 

UNIVERSITY 


36  PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING. 

It  is  run  over  a  carding  wheel,  or  a  large  metal  cylin- 
der covered  with  small  brads,  which  mix  all  the  mo- 
hair and  kemp.  After  passing  over  a  number  of 
these  wheels,  which  revolve  in  different  directions, 
the  material  thus  carded  is  ready  to  spin. 

NOIL. 

Some  of  the  noil  collected  by  the  combing  pro- 
cess is  composed  of  a  large  percentage  of  short  mo- 
hair. This  noil  has  a  considerable  value  and  is  some- 
times carded.  The  lower  grade  noil  is  sold  to  carpet 
manufacturers  and  various  users  of  low  grade  stuff. 
Noil  usually  brings  from  twelve  to  twenty  cents  a 
pound. 

USES    OF    MOHAIR. 

As  yet  mohair  has  been  used  for  only  a  limited 
number  of  things.  Its  possibilities  have  not  been  de- 
veloped. New  uses  for  the  fiber  are  being  discov- 
ered, and  it  seems  probable  that  there  will  be 
many  things  made  of  mohair  in  the  future.  The 
yarn  has  a  beautiful  luster  and  is  very  durable. 
When  ladies'  lustre  goods  are  in  fashion  a  large 
amount  of  mohair  goes  into  these  fabrics.  Much 
mohair  is  used  in  dress  goods  and  men's  goods. 
There  is  a  steady  demand  for  mohair  plushes  and 
braids. 

There  is  no  plush  made  which  will  give  the  ser- 
vice, present  the  luster  and  retain  a  standing  pile  as 


PKACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING.  37 

long  as  mohair.  One  may  crush  the  nap  of  a  mohair 
plush  as  often  or  as  long  as  he  pleases,  but  the  pile 
immediately  resumes  its  upright  position  upon  being 
released.  Then,  too,  the  dust  shakes  out  of  a  mohair 
plush  very  easily.  One  rarely  sees  a  dusty  railroad 
car  seat,  although  the  country  through  which  the  car 
is  passing  may  be  very  dusty.  The  rich  effect  pro- 
duced by  a  heavily  upholstered  palace  car  is  due  to 
the  mohair  plush.  Nothing  has  been  found  which 
will  take  its  place.  For  furniture  upholstering  there 
is  nothing  more  elegant  and  durable  than  mohair 
plush.  The  amount  of  plush  thus  used  is  governed  by 
fashion.  In  countries  where  large  military  forces  are 
retained  there  is  always  a  heavy  demand  for  mohair 
braids.  There  is  no  braid  made  which  has  the  luster, 
combined  with  the  durability,  which  mohair  braid  pos- 
sesses. Here  it  may  be  stated  that  a  coarse  yarn  can 
be  used  in  making  braids,  so  that  when  there  is  a 
heavy  demand  for  braids  there  should  be  a  propor- 
tionately high  price  paid  for  course  long  mohair.  Mo- 
hair braids  are  always  in  demand,  and  will  continue 
to  be  used  upon  ladies'  clothing,  as  well  as  for  mili- 
tary ornamental  purposes. 

The  variety  of  uses  to  which  mohair  is  adapted 
is  almost  innumerable.  In  the  manufacture  of  hats 
it  plays  an  important  part,  and  recently  the  demand 
for  long  fiber  for  the  manufacture  of  wigs,  ladies' 
hair  nets  and  other  toilet  articles  has  been  created, 


38  PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING. 

WORLD'S   SUPPLY  AND  CONSUMPTION. 

At  present  Asia  Minor  and  South  Africa  can  be 
regarded  as  the  two  leading  producers  of  mohair. 
The  Asia  Minor  exports  vary  considerably,  according 
to  the  price  allowed,  and  as  no  manufactured  stuff  is 
exported,  one  gets  a  fair  idea  of  the  amount  produced. 
It  may  be  broadly  stated  that  the  Asia  Minor  clip 
amounts  to  about  nine  million  pounds  annually. 
That  of  South  Africa  amounts  to  about  ten  million 
pounds,  and  the  United  States  now  produces  about 
one  million  pounds  annually.  Of  this  production  a 
very  large  percentage  of  that  coming  from  all  these 
countries  may  be  regarded  as  inferior  stuff.  We 
mean  by  this,  that  the  Angora  goat  raising  industry 
is  yet  in  its  infancy,  and  that  much  of  the  mohair 
produced  is  sheared  from  goats  which  have  been 
bred  from  the  common  hair  variety.  Many  of  the 
characteristics  of  the  fleece  of  the  common  goat  still 
persist  in  the  mohair. 

From  the  foregoing  estimate  the  world's  supply 
of  mohair  may  be  stated  as  twenty  million  pounds 
annually.  Australia  is  as  yet  producing  only  a  very 
small  amount. 

Practically  eighty-five  to  ninety  per  cent,  of  the 
world's  supply  of  mohair  is  handled  in  Bradford, 
England.  Nearly  all  of  the  South  African  and 
Turkish  stuff  is  shipped  directly  to  Bradford,  a  small 
amount  of  the  Constantinople  export  coming  to 


PKACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING.  39 

America,  but  a  large  part  of  the  American  import 
comes  from  Liverpool,  England.  At  Bradford  the 
raw  material  is  manufactured,  some  of  the  manufac- 
tured stuff  being  exported  as  yarn,  but  the  larger 
part  is  used  to  produce  the  finished  article.  The  re- 
maining ten  or  fifteen  per  cent,  is  manufactured  in 
the  United  States.  At  times  the  demand  for  mohair 
goods  stimulates  the  demand  for  raw  material,  and  the 
United  States  has  been  known  to  use  from  twenty  to 
twenty-five  per  cent,  of  the  world's  supply.  To  re- 
capitulate, the  United  States  produces  five  per  cent, 
of  the  world's  annual  supply  of  raw  mohair,  and 
manufactures  from  ten  to  twenty-five  per  cent,  of  the 
world's  annual  production. 

MOHAIR    PRICES. 

The  price  of  mohair  has  fluctuated  with  the 
caprice  of  fashion.  Supply  and  demand  are  the 
essential  factors  in  its  valuation,  but  demand  has 
been  so  influenced  by  the  requirements  of  fashion  in 
the  past  that  one  finds  a  wide  range  in  price  for  the 
raw  material.  In  a  report  issued  by  the  Bradford 
Observer  we  find  the  price  ranging  from  fifty  cents  a 
pound  in  1856,  to  eighty  cents  in  1866,  ninety  cents 
in  1876,  and  then  down  to  thirty  cents  in  1886  and 
1896.  In  1903  the  average  price  in  the  United  States 
was  about  thirty-five  cents  a  pound,  and  for  1904 
about  thirty  cents  a  pound. 


PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING.  41 

To-day  there  is  a  demand  for  mohair,  regardless 
of  fashion.  During  the  past  two  years  the  price  of 
raw  material  has  been  low,  but  there  has  been  a  mar- 
gin of  profit  in  the  industry,  and  considering  the  fact 
that  fashion's  decree  has  eliminated  the  manufacture 
of  luster  fabrics  for  the  present,  the  mohair  producer 
can  feel  assured  that  there  will  be  a  steady  market 
for  his  material.  With  the  occasional  good  times 
when  luster  goods  are  in  demand,  the  mohair  grower 
should  do  well. 

SHEARING  AND    PACKING   MOHAIR. 

The  goat  should  be  shorn  before  he  commences  to 
shed,  as  the  mohair  looses  its  weight  and  luster  after 
the  shedding  process  begins.  There  are  a  few  goats, 
which,  under  certain  kinds  of  food  and  climatic  con- 
ditions, will  not  shed  their  fleeces,  but  most  goats 
will  shed,  and  even  goats  which  have  carried  their 
fleeces  over  a  year  in  one  section,  may  shed  if  they 
are  moved  a  few  miles  and  the  food  is  changed.  A  class 
of  non-shedders  would  be  very  valuable,  but  so  far  a 
distinctive  class  of  non-shedders,  under  any  and  all 
conditions,  and  which  transmit  this  peculiarity,  has 
not  been  identified.  The  Angora  goat  will  usually 
commence  to  shed  early  in  the  spring,  or  as  soon  as 
a  few  warm  bright  days  come. 

In  some  sections  of  the  country  it  is  thought  ad- 
visable to  shear  twice  a  year.  Many  points  in  favor 


42  PRACTICAL  ANGOKA  GOAT  RAISING. 

of  this  method  are  advocated.  It  is  claimed  that  the 
price  realized  for  the  two  medium  length,  or  short 
stapled  fleeces,  together  with  the  increased  number 
of  pounds  shorn  in  the  two  clippings  a  year,  pays 
much  better  than  the  one  long  staple  fleece  which  can 
be  shorn  from  the  same  animal  for  a  year's  growth. 
There  are  many  reasons  both  for  and  against  shear- 
ing twice  a  year.  The  mills  prefer  long  mohair,  or 
at  least  fiber  more  than  six  inches  in  length  (combing 
length).  They  pay  the  best  price  for  this  class  of 
mohair,  and  it  must  be  left  to  the  individual  to  decide 
whether  it  pays  him  best  to  shear  once  or  twice  a 
year.  At  present  possibly  one-third  of  the  Angoras 
in  the  United  States  are  shorn  twice  a  year,  and  the 
remaining  two-thirds  only  once.  In  Asia  Minor  one 
finds  the  goat  shearer  using  a  pair  of  long  bladed 
scissors  to  cut  the  mohair.  The  goats  are  shorn  in 
the  spring,  and  only  once  during  the  year.  The  ani- 
mal's feet  are  tied,  and  then  by  using  both  hands,  one 
at  either  end  of  the  scissors,  the  goat  is  shorn.  Re- 
cently some  Englishman  has  introduced  an  ordinary 
spring  sheep  shear,  but  most  of  the  natives  prefer  the 
scissors. 

To-day  one  finds  the  hand  shearer  and  the  ma- 
chine shearer  at  work  in  America.  The  hand  shearer 
should  use  a  pair  of  short  bladed  (about  five  inch 
blade)  sheep  shears.  This  is  to  prevent  the  point  of 
the  shear  from  cutting  mohair,  which  is  not  intended 


PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING.  43 

to  be  clipped  with  that  particular  stroke  of  the  shear. 
If,  for  instance,  the  shearer  is  clipping  the  mohair 
along  the  sides  of  the  animal,  and  the  point  of  the 
shear  cuts  some  of  the  mohair  at  least  three  inches 
out  from  the  body,  this  stubble  is  shorn  again  (double 
cut)  when  the  shearer  gets  to  this  place,  and  this 
three-inch  mohair  is  too  short  to  be  of  much  value. 
It  will  be  combed  out  at  the  mill  as  noil.  An  ex- 
pert shearer  can  clip  about  the  same  number  of  range 
goats  that  he  can  range  sheep — from  ninety  to  one 
hundred  and  twenty  a  day. 

The  machine  shear  is  rapidly  taking  the  place  of 
the  hand  shear.  It  clips  the  mohair  close  to  the 
skin  and  almost  does  away  with  double  cutting.  It 
requires  less  skill  to  shear  with  a  machine  shear,  and  it 
does  the  work  more  uniformly.  There  is  also  less 
danger  of  cutting  the  animal.  The  machines  do  the 
work  very  rapidly. 

After  the  goat  is  shorn  the  fleece  should  be  col- 
lected and  rolled  into  a  bundle,  "bump,"  and  placed 
in  a  sack  or  bale.  It  should  not  be  tied,  as  the  mill 
men  object  to  the  particles  of  string  which  remain  in 
the  mohair  and  disfigure  the  manufactured  product. 
Any  colored  fleeces,  discolored  mohair,  or  mohair  con- 
taining objectionable  features,  such  as  burrs,  straw, 
etc.,  can  be  placed  in  separate  parcels.  The  kid  mo- 
hair can  be  kept  by  itself,  and  the  wether  and  doe 
mohair  can  be  separately  packed.  The  long  mohair 


44  PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING. 

should  be  kept  separate  from  short  stuff.  Thus  one 
grades  the  mohair  to  some  extent  on  the  farm,  and 
he  has  a  better  idea  of  what  the  clip  should  bring. 

If  the  mohair  is  to  be  shipped  a  long  distance,  it 
will  pay  to  bale  the  fleeces,  as  compact  bales  occupy 
much  less  space  than  sacks.  The  freight  rates  are 
usually  less  upon  baled  mohair  than  they  are  upon 
the  sacked  material.  The  cost  of  baling  the  mohair 
is  a  little  less  tban  the  cost  of  sacking. 


BREEDING  OF 
THE  ANGORA  GOAT. 


can  learn  very  little  about  breeding 
the  Angora  goat  from  the  Turk.  As 
we  know  from  Tchikacheff's  work, 
which  was  published  over  fifty  years 
ago,  cold  winters  often  killed  many  of  the  Angoras 
in  Asia  Minor,  and  the  Turk  then  imported  from 
more  favored  districts  common  bucks  or  does  to  breed 
to  the  Angora.  This  was  before  the  great  demand 
for  mohair,  occasioned  by  the  increase  in  manufac- 
turing plants  at  Bradford,  England,  caused  the  Turk- 
ish mohair  raisers  to  resort  to  all  manner  of  means 
to  increase  the  supply  of  raw  material. 

To-day  the  Turk  is  treading  in  the  paths  of  his 
forefathers.  What  was  good  enough  for  them,  cer- 
tainly ought  to  be  good  enough  for  him,  so  he  reasons. 
He  eats  with  his  fingers,  cooks  on  a  brazier,  sits  on 
the  floor,  eats,  drinks,  sleeps  and  works  all  in  the 
same  room,  and  keeps  his  wives  in  seclusion. 

When  he  comes  to  breeding  the  Angora  he  leaves 
that  to  his  servants,  if  he  be  wealthy  enough  to  have 
any.  Most  of  the  breeders  cannot  read  or  write.  They 
have  never  traveled.  They  have  no  ambition,  and  they 
know  nothing  of  the  principles  of  selective  breeding. 


46  PRACTICAL    ANGOEA    GOAT    RAISING. 

As  a  natural  consequence  the  Angora  goat  of  to-day 
has  not  improved,  nor  is  he  likely  to  improve  under 
Turkish  management.  One  large  breeder  who  supplied 
bucks  to  some  tributary  country,  said  that  he  thought 
that  it  was  a  shame  to  castrate  a  buck,  no  matter  how 
bad  he  might  be.  The  Turk  separates  the  bucks 
from  the  does  at  breeding  season,  as  Asia  Minor  has 
cold  weather  late  in  the  spring,  and  the  danger  of  losing 
kids,  if  they  come  too  early,  is  great.  When  the 
bucks  are  turned  with  the  flock  they  are  allowed  to 
run  until  the  next  breeding  season,  and  all  of  the 
bucks,  regardless  of  quality  or  quantity,  are  allowed 
to  run  with  the  does. 

When  the  first  few  Angoras  arrived  in  America 
the  natural  procedure  was  to  cross  them  upon  the 
common  short-haired  goat  of  this  country.  It  was  a 
new  industry,  and  many  wanted  to  try  the  Angora. 
Very  slowly  the  Angora,  or  the  cross-bred  animals 
were  scattered  over  the  United  States.  Stories  were 
told  of  the  wonderful  things  for  which  the  mohair 
was  used,  and  some  supposedly  reliable  authorities 
quoted  mohair  at  $8.00  a  pound,  as  has  been  stated. 
Companies  were  started,  and  of  course  the  supply  of 
good  Angoras,  that  is,  goats  which  would  shear  about 
four  pounds  of  mohair  (worth  at  that  time  about  sev- 
enty-five cents  or  a  dollar  a  pound),  was  limited. 
Men  bought  any  goat  which  had  a  trace  of  Angora 
blood  in  him  as  a  thoroughbred  Angora.  A  few 


PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING.  47 

years,  however,  demonstrated  the  fact  that  a  common 
goat,  with  a  little  admixture  of  Angora  blood,  did  not 
produce  either  the  quality  or  the  quantity  of  fleece 
wanted.  Only  a  few  of  the  more  persistent  breeders 
continued  the  experiment  and  their  investigations. 
They  sent  and  went  to  the  home  of  the  Angora,  and 
brought  more  of  the  original  animals  to  America.  It 
took  the  American  breeders  about  thirty  years  to  find 
out  just  what  the  Angora  goat  was  and  how  he  should 
be  handled.  During  that  thirty  years  large  flocks  of 
common  goats,  which  had  been  crossed  with  the  An- 
gora, and  which  might  be  properly  termed  "  grade 
flocks,"  had  been  formed.  Only  a  few  thoroughbred 
flocks,  that  is,  flocks  of  the  original  Angora,  as  he 
came  from  Turkey,  were  in  existence. 

CROSSING  WITH  THE 

COMMON  SHORT  HAIRED  COAT. 

By  experience  we  have  learned  that  the  common 
short  coarse  haired  goat  can  be  crossed  with  the  An- 
gora goat,  and  that  after  sufficient  crosses  have  been 
made,  the  cross-bred  Angora  so  nearly  resembles  the 
thoroughbred  that  for  all  practical  purposes  he  is  an 
Angora.  We  have  also  learned  that  certain  kinds  of 
common  goats  respond  rapidly  to  the  infusion  of  An- 
gora blood,  and  that  others  retain  certain  peculiari- 
ties of  the  common  goat  for  generations.  The  An- 
gora will  not  cross  with  sheep.  For  instance,  a  com- 
mon goat  with  a  long  mane  on  the  back,  or  tuft  of 


<s/ry 

OF 
"§Si£eRW!fi. 

PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING.  49 

long  hair  behind  the  foreleg,  or  on  the  Hank  or  the 
hip,  will  continue  to  perpetuate  this  long  coarse  hair  on 
the  offspring  for  generations,  even  though  the  best  of 
Angora  blood  be  infused.  The  color  of  the  common 
goat  is  of  some  importance.  A  brown  or  reddish  brown 
goat  retains  the  reddish  cast  at  the  base  of  the  mo- 
hair much  longer  than  one  of  a  bluish  or  bluish 
black  color.  It  is  equally  true  that  a  pure  white 
mother  may  drop  a  colored  kid  occasionally.  In 
Constantinople  the  mohair  is  graded  into  parcels  con- 
taining red  kemp,  black  kemp,  etc.  There  it  is  the 
kemp  which  retains  the  color.  As  has  been  stated, 
there  is  also  a  breed  of  brown  Angora  goats,  or  at 
least  mohair-producing  goats,  in  Koniah  in  Asia 
Minor.  Presuming,  then,  that  one  has  a  suitable 
common  doe  and  a  good  Angora  buck  as  a  basis,  the 
following  may  be  deduced  as  relative  changes  in  the 
different  crosses: 

The  first  cross,  or  half-blood  Angora,  will  have  a 
covering  of  short  coarse  common  hair  and  a  thin  cov- 
ering of  mohair,  which  does  not  grow  very  long.  If 
the  animal  were  to  be  shorn,  possibly  a  half  pound  of 
hair  of  a  very  inferior  grade  might  be  yielded.  If 
this  hair  were  to  be  offered  to  a  manufacturer,  he 
would  class  it  as  noil,  and  refer  it  to  a  carpet  manu- 
facturer, who  would  possibly  pay  ten  or  twelve  cents 
a  pound  for  it.  The  skin  of  the  animal  will  be  a  lit- 
tle fluffy,  and  not  suitable  for  fine  goat  skin  trade. 


50  PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING. 

It  will  not  take  a  good  polish  after  tanning,  and  it  is 
not  desirable  for  shoe  leather.  It  will  be  worth 
about  half  as  much  as  common  goat  skin.  The  meat 
of  the  animal  will  be  a  little  better  than  that  of  the 
common  goat,  but  it  will  be  inferior  to  Angora  veni- 
son. The  animal  will  still  be  as  prolific  as  the  com- 
mon goat.  Twins  and  triplets  will  be  a  common 
occurrence.  The  kids  will  also  be  hardy.  If  one 
were  to  stop  at  this  stage  in  breeding,  he  would  have 
decreased  the  value  of  the  skin  of  his  goat  without 
increasing  the  value  of  the  animal. 

The  second  cross,  or  the  three-quarter  blood 
Angora,  will  have  a  covering  of  short  coarse  common 
hair,  especially  noticeable  on  the  back,  belly,  neck 
and  hips.  The  mohair  will  now  be  fairly  thickly  set 
upon  the  sides  of  the  animal,  and  of  medium  length, 
about  seven  inches  long  for  a  year's  growth.  If  the 
animal  were  to  be  examined  by  a  novice,  he  would  be 
called  an  Angora  from  his  general  appearance.  If 
shorn,  he  will  yield  about  one,  or  one  and  a  half 
pounds  of  hair,  and  the  mohair  manufacturer  will 
pay  about  twelve  or  fifteen  cents  a  pound  for  the 
material.  The  skin  is  valueless  for  rug,  robe  or  trim- 
ming purposes,  because  of  the  coarse  back  and  the 
scanty  covering  of  mohair.  It  is  fit  for  glove  leather 
after  tanning,  but  its  value  for  this  purpose  is  less 
than  that  of  the  common  goat.  The  meat  is  more 
like  Angora  venison,  and  can  be  sold  on  the  market 


PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING.  51 

as  mutton.  The  animal  is  still  prolific.  From  the 
second  cross  on,  the  grade  goat  rapidly  assumes 
the  characteristic  of  the  Angora  goat,  but  if  for 
any  reason  poor  bucks  are  used  (an  occasional  animal 
without  apparent  reason  retrogrades),  the  animal  as 
rapidly  resumes  the  characteristic  of  the  common 
goat.  Quite  a  percentage  of  colored  kids  will  be 
dropped  by  does  which  are  themselves  white. 

The  third  cross,  or  seven-eighths  blood  Angora, 
will  still  have  the  coarse  back,  a  partially  bare  belly, 
coarse  hips,  and  the  neck  will  be  insufficiently  cov- 
ered. The  sides  will  be  covered  with  good  quality, 
long  staple  mohair,  comparatively  free  from  the 
coarse,  dead  underhair,  or  kemp.  The  animal  will 
shear  about  two  or  three  pounds  of  fair  mohair, 
which  will  be  worth  from  twenty  to  thirty  cents  a 
pound.  This  mohair  will  be  fit  to  run  through  the 
combs,  and  the  "  top,"  or  long  mohair,  free  from 
kemp,  will  be  used  in  the  manufacture  of  plushes, 
braids,  etc.  The  skin  will  have  some  value  for  rug, 
robe  and  trimming  purposes.  The  meat  will  be 
juicy,  palatable  and  salable  as  mutton. 

The  fourth  cross,  or  fifteen-sixteenths  blood  An- 
gora, will  be  hardly  distinguishable  from  the  average 
thoroughbred  Angora.  The  coarse  back  will  persist 
to  some  extent,  and  the  hip  will  be  plentifully  cov- 
ered with  kemp.  A  good  many  of  this  grade  will  be 
poorly  covered  on  the  belly,  and  an  occasional  bare 


52  PEACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING. 

necked  or  off  colored  animal  will  be  dropped.  The 
animal  will  shear  from  two  and  a  half  to  five  pounds 
of  mohair  of  good  quality,  which  will  be  worth  from 
twenty-fiye  to  thirty-five  cents  a  pound.  It  will  be 
from  eight  to  twelve  inches  long  at  a  year's  growth, 
and  it  will  be  combed  at  the  mill.  It  is  fit  for  manu- 
facturing into  any  of  the  goods  for  which  mohair  is 
used.  The  meat  of  the  animal  is  rich,  juicy,  and  free 
from  the  disagreeable  qualities  so  often  noticeable  in 
mutton.  If  the  animal  be  fed  upon  browse,  the  meat 
will  have  the  flavor  of  venison.  The  tendency  of 
the  mothers  to  drop  twins  will  be  lessened,  and  it 
will  be  rather  the  exception  for  twins  to  be  born. 
The  kids  will  be  rather  delicate  when  dropped. 

Subsequent  crosses  will  tend  to  reduce  the 
amount  of  kemp  upon  the  animal  and  to  improve  the 
back.  The  question  will  now  resolve  itself  into  one 
of  breeding  for  points.  Bucks  must  be  selected 
which  cover  the  points  the  does  need  most,  and  by 
careful  selection  the  grade  flock  will  soon  be  indistin- 
guishable from  the  thoroughbreds. 

METHODS   USED    IN   AMERICA  TO-DAY. 

By  gradual  steps  the  original  Angoras  imported 
into  America  have  been  so  improved,  and  the  cross- 
bloods  have  been  so  highly  graded  that  some  of  the 
American  flocks  equal  the  best  Turkish  flocks. 
America  has  many  high-grade  flocks,  which,  if  it  were 
not  for  the  remaining  coarse  hair  of  the  common 


PEACTICAL  ANGOKA  GOAT  KAISING.  53 

goat,  would  be  upon  a  par  with  the  Turkish  flocks. 
There  are  enough  good  goats  in  the  country  for  a 
foundation  stock,  and  a  few  years  more  of  the  careful, 
painstaking,  selective  breeding  which  is  in  progress 
throughout  the  United  States  to-day,  will  bring  forth 
an  Angora  superior  to  the  Turkish  stock.  Sections 
of  the  country  modify  the  characteristics  of  the  An- 
gora. Probably  climatic  conditions,  varieties  of  food 
and  water,  and  certainly  mental  vigor  of  the  owners 
is  largely  responsible  for  this.  One  man  selects 
large,  well  formed,  rapidly  maturing  goats  and  breeds 
for  this  type.  It  is  surprising  how  soon  his  flocks 
assume  this  type.  Another  breeder  works  for  fine- 
ness of  fleece,  regardless  of  size  or  shape  of  the  an- 
imal, and  he  gets  his  points. 

There  has  been  much  vagueness  as  to  what  points 
the  breeder  should  try  to  produce.  Some  have 
claimed  that  the  most  profitable  animal  to  raise  was 
one  producing  heavy  ringletty  fleece,  regardless  of 
the  quality  of  the  fleece,  except  of  course  that  it 
should  be  as  free  from  kemp  as  possible.  This  day 
has  passed.  We  know  what  the  mohair  is  used  for, 
and  know  how  it  is  prepared  for  manufacturing. 
The  future  may  change  these  uses  or  methods,  but 
we  know  what  we  want  now,  and  we  know  how  to 
breed  our  goats  to  produce  the  most  money  per  head 
for  the  present  at  least.  Fashions  vary,  and  the 
fashions  vary  the  demand  for  certain  grades  of  mo- 


54  PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING. 

hair.  Coarse  fibered,  long  staple,  fine  luster  mohair 
possessing  a  great  amount  of  tensile  strength  and  elas- 
ticity will  make  good  braid  yarns,  but  if  braid  yarns 
are  not  in  demand,  such  fiber  is  not  the  best  for  plush 
or  dress  yarns.  Fine  fibered,  long  staple,  pliable, 
lustrous,  easily  spun  yarn  can  be  used  for  braid  stuff, 
or  at  least  part  of  the  fleece  will  be  heavy  enough  for 
this  purpose,  and  the  finer  parts  have  such  a  variety 
of  uses  that  they  spin  yarns  which  are  always  in  de- 
mand. Looking  at  the  question  from  the  manufac- 
turing standpoint,  we  see  that  the  most  staple  product 
is  the  fine-fibered  mohair.  But  a  producer  might  have 
animals  which  would  shear  two  and  a  half  pounds 
average  (the  average  of  the  Turkish  flocks)  of  very 
fine  mohair,  while  another  grower  might  have  ani- 
mals which  would  shear  four  or  five  pounds  average  of 
coarse  mohair.  And  even  though  the  value  per  pound 
of  the  coarse  mohair  may  be  considerably  less  than 
that  of  the  fine  mohair,  the  grower  owning  the  coarse 
haired  heavy  shearing  Angoras  will  realize  more 
money  per  head  for  his  clip.  The  value  also  of  the 
carcass  and  skin  of  the  Angora  is  of  importance.  A 
heavy  carcass  and  a  large  skin  are  of  more  value  than 
a  light  carcass  and  a  small  skin. 

If  the  Angora  breeder  would  produce  the  ani- 
mal which  will  yield  the  most  money  per  head,  he 
should  aim  to  produce  an  animal  which  will  shear 
the  heaviest  fleece  of  the  most  marketable  mohair, 


PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING.  55 

regardless  of  fashions,  and  one  which,  when  put  upon 
the  market,  will  dress  the  most  possible  pounds  of 
desirable  meat,  and  yield  a  readily  marketable  skin. 
There  are  not  many  such  animals  on  the  market  to- 
day, but  the  time  when  there  will  be  plenty  is 
coming.  We  have  the  fineness  of  fiber;  we  have  the 
density  of  weight  of  fleece;  we  have  the  covering  of 
the  animal  and  the  size  and  stamina  of  the  individ- 
ual, and  we  have  breeders  who  are  endeavoring  to 
unite  combinations  to  produce  the  Angora  of  the 
future.  But  while  we  are  without  the  ideal,  one 
should  choose  that  point  which  is  hardest  to  attain, 
most  necessary  for  the  best  paying  animal,  and  work 
especially  for  that.  That  point  is  fineness  of  fiber, 
always  remembering  freeness  from  kemp.  There 
are  many  large  goats,  many  heavy  shearing  goats, 
but  there  are  very  few  fine  fibered  comparatively  free 
from  kemp  goats.  One  should  not  make  the  mistake 
of  neglecting  size  and  weight  of  fleece.  There  are 
few  animals  which  will  respond  more  rapidly  to  care- 
ful crossing  than  the  Angora  goat.  A  buck  will 
usually  stamp  his  individuality  upon  every  kid,  hence 
the  necessity  of  carefully  selecting  breeding  stock. 

GESTATION. 

The  period  of  gestation  varies  slightly  with  the 
individual,  but  the  average  may  be  approximately 
stated  as  one  hundred  and  forty-seven  days,  or  about 
five  months.  Both  the  bucks  and  the  does  have  a 


56  PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING. 

breeding  season,  but  this  season  may  be  changed  or 
varied  by  different  elements.  As  a  rule  the  bucks 
commence  to  rut  about  July  or  August  here  in 
America,  and  the  does  soon  after  the  time  the  bucks 
commence.  Some  bucks  which  have  been  allowed  to 
run  with  the  does  all  of  the  time,  never  cease  rutting, 
and  the  does  conceive  about  every  six  months.  The 
does  come  in  heat  about  every  fourteen  days,  and  re- 
main in  this  condition  for  about  three  days.  If  the 
bucks  are  allowed  to  run  with  the  does,  one  buck  should 
be  used  for  about  every  fifty  does.  If  the  buck  is  only 
allowed  to  serve  the  doe  once,  a  grown  animal  will 
serve  one  hundred  and  fifty  does  in  forty  days  without 
permanent  injury  to  himself.  The  does  conceive  at 
about  the  age  of  seven  months,  and  the  bucks  breed  at 
about  the  same  age,  but  the  wise  breeder  will  not 
sacrifice  the  individual  by  interfering  with  its  devel- 
opment. Both  the  buck  and  the  doe  should  not  be 
bred  until  they  are  at  least  a  year  old.  The  bucks 
should  be  fed  at  breeding  season,  and  if  one  has 
a  sufficient  number  of  bucks,  it  is  well  to  turn  the 
bucks  with  the  does  in  relays.  It  is  advisable  to  have 
the  kids  start  coming  slowly,  so  that  one  may  get 
new  men  trained  to  handle  them  properly.  One  or 
two  bucks  turned  with  a  flock  of  a  thousand  does  for 
a  few  days,  and  then  removed  and  allowed  to  rest, 
and  a  new  relay  of  three  or  more  bucks  turned  with 
the  does,  to  be  removed  in  a  few  days,  and  a  new  re- 


58  PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING. 

lay  being  introduced  into  the  flock,  will  do  more  sat- 
isfactory work  than  they  would  if  all  of  the  bucks 
were  turned  in  at  one  time.  The  same  principle  can 
be  applied  to  smaller  flocks.  The  does  should  be 
protected  from  cold  storms  or  rough  handling  when 
they  are  heavy  with  kid,  else  they  are  liable  to  abort. 
If  for  any  unusual  cause  the  doe  aborts  one  season, 
there  is  no  reason  why  she  will  not  carry  her  kid  un- 
til full  term  another  time,  and  experience  has  proven 
that  she  will. 

BREEDING  OF  REGISTERED  STOCK. 

The  breeding  of  registered  stock,  or  stock  of 
known  ancestry,  requires  much  care  and  quite  differ- 
ent handling.  Both  the  does  and  the  bucks  must  be 
marked  with  an  ear  tag,  brand,  tattoo  number,  or 
some  other  permanent  individual  mark,  and  the  kids 
should  be  marked  at  birth.  Fifty  known  does  may 
be  put  in  a  pasture  or  pen  and  a  known  buck  put 
with  them.  He  should  be  allowed  to  run  with  them 
at  least  forty  days.  After  this  the  does  may  be  col- 
lected into  a  flock  and  several  bucks  turned  with 
them,  but  only  the  kids  which  are  dropped  from  a 
known  buck  are  fit  for  record. 

A  more  accurate  method,  and  one  which  can  be 
used  with  a  large  flock,  is  to  place  the  bucks  in  a  corral 
adjoining  the  one  used  by  the  does  at  night.  The 
does  should  be  brought  into  their  corral  early  in  the 


PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING. 


59 


evening,  and  all  of  those  in  heat  will  work  along  the 
fence  next  to  the  bucks.  The  doe  in  heat  can  be 
caught  and  the  number  taken  and  recorded  in  a  book. 
She  is  then  placed  in  a  small  pen  with  a  buck  and 
his  number  is  recorded  with  hers,  together  with  the 
date.  If  the  doe  does  not  conceive,  she  can  be  put 
with  the  same  buck  again  at  a  later  date,  and  one  has 
approximate  knowledge  of  when  she  should  drop  her 
kid.  In  this  manner  a  buck  will  serve  about  two  or 
three  does  in  the  evening,  and  one  or  two  in  the  morn- 
ing. The  kid  is  marked  at  birth  and  the  number  re- 
corded after  that  of  the  mother.  The  breeding  of  re- 
corded stock  is  of  value  only  for  special  reasons,  and 
is  not  advisable  with  large  flocks,  as  it  is  expensive. 


ANGORA  VENISON. 


NGORA  venison  is  the  name  which  should 
be  given  to  the  flesh  of  the  Angora 
goat.  At  the  present  time  it  is  usually 
sold  in  the  markets  as  mutton.  The 
term  goat  meat  should  be  applied  to 
meat  of  the  common  goat,  and  the  term  mutton  be- 
longs to  sheep.  Because  the  Angora  goat  feeds  largely 
upon  that  material  which  nourishes  the  deer,  the  meat 
of  the  Angora  is  flavored  like  venison.  The  fat  is 
well  distributed,  and  the  healthfulness  of  the  animal 
renders  this  an  especially  desirable  meat.  The  Turk 
has  long  recognized  Angora  venison  as  an  important 
element  in  his  diet.  Angora  kid  is  above  comparison, 
and  it  occupies  the  principle  place  on  the  menu  at 
private  as  well  as  state  affairs  in  the  Orient.  As  one 
passes  through  the  market  places  in  Asia  Minor 
he  sees  the  carcasses  of  the  Angora  hanging  in  every 
shop.  There  is  no  mistaking  the  animal,  as  the  skin 
still  remains  on  the  goat.  One  takes  his  choice,  and 
as  a  rule  more  Angora  venison  than  mutton  is  sold. 
Some  of  the  Turks  keep  their  wethers  until  they  be- 
come coarse-haired  and  too  old  to  pay  to  keep  longer, 
eight  or  ten  years  old.  This  class  of  meat  ranks 
with  old  mutton,  and  sells  at  a  discount.  Young 


PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING.  61 

wethers  and  does  are  in  good  demand.  There  has 
existed  in  America  some  prejudice  against  the  flesh 
of  the  goat.  To-day  thousands  of  goats  are  being 
consumed  annually,  but  most  of  them  are  sold  as 
mutton.  Packers  and  butchers  still  insist  that  An- 
gora venison  must  be  sold  as  mutton.  They  pay 
about  one-half  a  cent  to  a  cent  a  pound  less  for  the 
goat  than  for  sheep. 

The  goat  never  fattens  as  well  along  the  back  as 
the  sheep,  and  hence  the  carcass  does  not  look  so 
well.  The  fat  is  more  evenly  distributed  throughout 
the  animal  in  the  goat.  An  expert  once  said  that  to 
know  whether  a  goat  was  fat  one  should  feel  the 
brisket,  and  if  there  was  a  considerable  layer  of  adi- 
pose tissue  between  the  skin  and  the  breast  bone,  the 
animal  was  fat. 

Some  of  the  American  breeders  do  not  send 
their  wethers  to  market  until  they  get  too  old  to  pro- 
duce valuable  fleeces.  The  animals  are  then  slaught- 
ered when  they  have  grown  a  half  year's  fleece,  and 
the  skins  are  reserved  by  the  breeder.  These  skins 
are  valuable,  and  help  to  bring  up  the  average  price 
of  the  goat. 

At  present  some  of  the  packers  recognize  no  dif- 
ference between  shorn  and  unshorn  goats.  The 
price  is  the  same,  so  it  pays  to  shear  the  goats  before 
bringing  them  to  market.  There  is  absolutely  no 
strong  flavor  in  prime  Angora  venison,  and  this  is 


62 


PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING. 


where  the  meat  differs  from  that  of  the  common 
goat. 

The  goat  is  a  slow  grower,  and  not  until  the  sec- 
ond year  do  the  bones  ossify.  Therefore,  a  two-year- 
old  can  be  sold  for  lamb,  as  he  has  a  "  soft  joint." 
Grown  Angora  wethers  do  not  average  much  more 
than  one  hundred  pounds  as  a  rule,  although  there 
are  occasional  bands  sold  which  average  one  hundred 
and  fifteen  pounds. 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  Angora  venison  will  never 
supplant  mutton,  but  it  will  have  its  place  among  the 
edible  meats. 


ANGORA   BUCK— Early  Importation. 


ANGORA  GOAT  SKINS. 


N  Angora  goat  skin  differs  considerably 
from  the  skin  of  the  common  goat. 
In  the  first  place  the  Angora  skin  is 
covered  with  more  or  less  mohair  ; 
and  in  the  second  place,  the  texture 
of  the  skin  itself  is  different.  The  skin  of  the 
common  goat  is  firm,  and  the  different  layers  are  so 
closely  united  that  they  cannot  be  separated.  The 
layers  of  the  Angora  skin  are  not  so  closely  united, 
and  the  skin  is  slightly  fluffy.  The  outer  layer  of 
this  skin  peels  off  when  it  is  used.  The  Angora  skin 
is  valuable  both  with  the  fleece  on  and  without  it. 
Its  principle  value,  however,  is  with  the  fleece  on. 
After  the  skins  have  been  properly  tanned,  they  are 
used  for  rugs,  robes,  trimmings,  and  imitating  various 
furs.  When  ladies'  and  children's  Angora  furs  are  in 
style,  these  skins  become  very  valuable  for  this  pur- 
pose. One  skin  has  cut  $17.00  worth  of  trimming  at 
wholesale.  Of  couree,  the  value  of  the  skins  depends 
upon  the  quality  and  character  of  the  mohair  with 
which  the  skins  are  covered,  and  their  size.  Large, 
well  covered  skins  are  always  scarce  and  command 
good  prices.  They  are  worth  from  11.00  to  12. 00  each. 


64  PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING. 

Most^of  the  Asia  Minor  skins  are  sent  to  Austria,  and 
the  prices  paid  for  the  raw  skins  are  about  the  same 
as  in  America.  The  skins  which  have  had  the  mohair 
removed  are  valuable  for  the  manufacture  of  gloves 
and  morocco  leather.  They  do  not  make  as  fine  leather 
as  the  common  goat  skins,  but  they  are  as  extensively 
used.  All  skins  should  be  carefully  handled. 

The  skin  should  be  carefully  removed  from  the 
carcass.  Goats  do  not  skin  as  easily  as  sheep,  and 
the  careless  operator  is  liable  to  cut  the  inner  layers 
of  the  skin  if  he  is  not  careful.  These  cuts  are  called 
"flesh-cuts,"  and  skins  badly  "flesh-cut"  are  compara- 
tively valueless,  because  "flesh-cuts"  can  not  be  re- 
moved by  the  tanner.  A  sharp  knife  should  be  used, 
and  the  operator  should  avoid  cutting  the  skin. 

The  skin  should  be  well  salted,  care  being  taken 
to  see  that  the  salt  penetrates  every  portion  of  the  raw 
surface.  The  skins  can  be  cured  in  the  shade  with- 
out the  use  of  salt,  but  sun-dried  skins  are  worthless. 
If  the  edges  of  the  skin  are  allowed  to  roll,  so  that 
raw  surfaces  come  together,  the  part  so  affected  will 
heat  and  the  hair  pull  out.  It  is  not  necessary  to 
stretch  the  skins  while  curing  them. 

Goats  should  be  killed  when  their  fleece  is  suit- 
able for  robe  and  rug  purposes.  Those  carrying  a  six 
month's  fleece,  if  it  is  six  inches  long,  have  about  the 
right  kind  of  skins.  There  are  some  Angora  skins 
imported  from  Turkey  and  South  Africa. 


BY-PRODUCTS 
OF  ANGORA  GOATS. 

<*=?> 


HE  Angora  goat  should  not  be  classed 
with  milch  animals.  As  a  rule  the  does 
give  a  sufficient  amount  of  milk  to 
nourish  the  kid  or  kids.  The  more 
common  blood  there  is  in  the  goat  the 
better  milch  animal  she  is.  However,  some  Angoras 
have  been  milked,  and  the  milk  is  as  rich  as  that  of 
the  common  goat.  A  quart  of  milk  a  day  may  be 
considered  a  fair  average  for  a  fresh  milch  Angora 
doe.  It  has  been  suggested  that  because  the  milk  of 
the  goat  contains  a  heavy  percentage  of  fat,  it  is  a 
proper  substitute  for  mothers'  milk  for  babies.  This 
is  probably  a  mistake,  as  that  part  of  the  milk  which 
is  the  hardest  for  the  baby  to  digest  is  the  protein,  and 
it  will  be  observed  that  in  the  following  table  of 
analysis  submitted,  the  percentage  of  protein  in 
goat's  milk  and  in  cow's  milk  is  about  the  same,  and 
that  it  is  considerably  larger  than  in  mother's  milk. 
A  very  desirable  feature  in  goat's  milk  is  that  the  fat 
is  distributed  throughout  the  milk,  and  that  it  does 
not  readily  separate  from  the  milk  This  would 
assist  in  the  assimilation  of  the  fat  by  an  infant. 
Some  experiments  made  with  coffee  demonstrate  that 
it  requires  half  the  quantity  of  goat's  milk  to  produce 


PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING.  67 

the  same  effect  upon  this  beverage  which  cow's  milk 
produces.  This  may  be  partially  explained  by  the 
quantity  of  fat  in  goat's  milk,  and  partially  by  the 
fact  that  the  fat  does  not  readily  separate  from  the 
milk.  The  bottom  of  the  can  is  as  good  as  the  top. 

ANALYSIS    OF   MILK. 

MOTHER'S         COW'S          GOAT'S 
AVERAGE        AVERAGE        AVERAGE 

Fat 400  3.50  7.30 

Sugar 7.00  430  410 

Proteid ...      1.50  400  418 

Salts 20  .70  1.21 

Water..                  87.30  87.50  83.21 


100.00  100.00  100.00 

Persons  in  poor  health  have  been  greatly  bene- 
fitted  by  the  use  of  goat's  milk.  This  is  probably 
due  to  the  fact  that  the  fat  in  the  milk  is  so  distribu- 
ted that  a  large  percentage  of  it  is  taken  up  by  the 
digestive  apparatus.  Angora  goats  are  docile,  arid  it 
is  possible  that  some  of  them  could  be  developed  into 
good  milch  animals. 

FERTILIZER. 

It  is  a  known  fact  that  packers  of  the  present 
day  utilize  all  of  the  carcass  of  most  food  animals, 
but  it  is  not  the  fertilizer  which  the  packer  makes 
from  the  blood  and  offal  of  the  goat  which  we  shall 
consider  here. 


68  PKACTICAL    ANGOKA    GOAT    RAISING. 

Sheep's  manure  has  been  used  for  years  on  or- 
chards and  vegetable  gardens,  and  in  the  last  few 
years  goats'  manure  has  been  in  demand,  selling  at 
from  $6  to  $7.50  a  ton,  depending  upon  the  purity  of 
the  fertilizer.  It  must  be  remembered  that  only  a 
small  portion  of  this  manure  is  dropped  at  the  night 
bed-ground,  the  balance  is  evenly  distributed  over  the 
land  upon  which  the  goats  are  feeding.  The  goats  not 
only  rid  the  farm  of  objectionable  weeds  and  brush, 
but  they  help  to  furnish  a  rich  soil  in  which  grass 
will  grow.  This  fact  has  been  so  thoroughly  demon- 
strated that  western  farmers,  who  have  large  tracts  of 
wheat  or  barley  stubble  to  rent  during  the  summer, 
are  always  anxious  to  get  goats  upon  this  land. 

OTHER  PRODUCTS. 

The  horns  of  the  goats  are  used  to  make  handles 
for  pocket  knives,  etc.  The  hoofs  are  used  in  the 
manufacture  of  glue. 


FOOD,  CLIMATE  AND 
PROTECTION. 


N  the  mountains  and  in  the  valleys  of  the 
United  States  the  Angora  has  had 
a  variety  of  food.  He  is  a  natural 
browser,  and  will  live  almost  entirely 
on  brush,  if  this  kind  of  food  is 
to  be  found,  but  he  readily  adapts  himself  to  circum- 
stances, and  will  live  and  do  well  upon  an  exclusively 
grass  diet.  The  fact  that  the  goat  is  a  browser  has 
been  made  use  of  in  clearing  farms  of  brush  and  ob- 
jectional  weeds.  If  a  sufficient  number  of  goats  are 
confined  upon  a  limited  area  for  a  period  of  time, 
they  will  kill  most  of  the  brush  upon  this  land. 
They  will  eat  almost  every  kind  of  brush,  but  they 
have  their  preferences  and  enjoy  especially  black- 
berry vines  and  those  kinds  of  brush  which  contain 
tannic  acid,  such  as  scrub  oak.  They  do  not  poison 
easily,  and  if  there  is  a  variety  of  food  they  rarely 
eat  enough  of  any  kind  of  poisonous  plant  to  prove 
fatal.  If,  however,  they  are  hungry,  and  have  access 
to  places  where  there  are  poisonous  plants,  they  will 
eat  enough  to  kill  themselves. 

KILLING  BRUSH. 

If  one  wishes  to  clear  brush  land,  he  should  con- 
fine the  goats  to  a  comparatively  small   tract.     The 


70  PKACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING. 

goats  kill  the  shrubs  by  eating  the  leaves  and  by 
peeling  the  bark  from  the  branches  and  trunks  of  the 
trees.  The  brush  thus  deprived  of  lungs,  soon  dies 
and  the  roots  rot.  As  fast  as  the  leaves  grow  they 
must  be  consumed,  so  it  is  well  to  allow  the  goats  to 
eat  most  of  the  leaves  off  of  a  limited  tract,  and  then 
in  order  to  give  the  goats  plenty  of  feed,  they  should 
be  moved  to  another  field.  As  soon  as  the  leaves  on 
the  first  tract  have  regrown  the  goats  should  be  again 
confined  to  this  land.  In  this  way  the  leaves  are  con- 
tinually destroyed.  This  process  can  be  continued 
as  fast  as  the  leaves  regrow.  By  this  method  it  is 
estimated  that  a  bunch  of  one  hundred  to  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  goats  will  clear  forty  acres  of  thick 
brush  in  about  two  years.  In  countries  where  the 
grass  grows  as  the  brush  dies,  goats  will  eat  some  of 
this  grass,  but  they  prefer  the  browse. 

On  some  of  the  older  goat  ranches,  where  the 
Angora  has  been  raised  exclusively  for  the  mohair 
and  mutton,  it  has  become  quite  a  problem  to  pre- 
vent the  goats  from  killing  out  the  brush.  The  goats 

have  done  well  where  other  kinds  of  livestock  would 

t 

have  starved,  but  as  soon  as  the  brush  is  killed  the 
land  produces  almost  nothing,  and  even  the  goats  can- 
not make  a  living.  To  prevent  as  far  as  possible 
their  killing  the  brush  the  flocks  are  moved  fre- 
quently from  one  range  to  another,  so  that  the  shrubs 
have  a  chance  to  recuperate  between  visits.  In  this 


PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING.  71 

way  brush  can  be  kept  almost  indefinitely  for  the 
goats.  On  some  of  the  western  ranges,  where  cattle 
and  sheep  have,  by  continual  cropping,  killed  much 
of  the  grass,  good  browse  remains.  These  ranges 
would  have  to  be  abandoned  if  it  were  not  for  the 
goat.  Goats  do  not  in  any  way  interfere  with  the 
pasturage  of  cattle  or  other  livestock.  Cattle  feed 
contentedly  on  the  same  range  with  the  goats,  and 
this  fact  has  led  many  southern  cattle  men  to  invest 
in  goats.  The  goats  are  herded  on  the  brushy  lands, 
and  the  cattle  range  over  the  same  territory  and  eat 
the  grass.  Horses  have  a  great  fondness  for  goats. 

SALT. 

Goats,  like  other  livestock,  should  have  a  small 
amount  of  salt.  The  salt  should  be  kept  where  they 
can  get  it  at  liberty,  or  else  it  should  be  fed  at  regu- 
lar intervals.  If  ground  salt  is  given,  care  should  be 
taken  to  see  that  individuals  do  not  eat  an  oversupply 
of  the  salt. 

WATER. 

While  Angoras  do  not  require  as  much  water  as 
sheep,  yet  they  should  be  given  a  quantity  sufficient 
at  least  once  a  day.  In  winter  goats  will  live  upon 
snow.  Men  have  reported  that  their  goats  have  gone 
for  a  week  at  a  time,  and  all  summer  long,  without 
any  more  moisture  than  they  could  get  from  browse 


72  PKACTICAL  ANGOKA  GOAT  RAISING. 

and  weeds,  but  even  if  Angoras  should  stand  this 
treatment,  they  will  thrive  better  with  water  once 
daily.  It  is  estimated  that  under  normal  condi- 
tions a  goat  will  consume  about  one-ninetieth  of  its 
body  weight  (about  a  pint  of  water  for  a  grown  ani- 
mal) in  a  day.  On  hot  days,  when  the  animals  are 
on  dry  feed,  they  will  frequently  drink  two  quarts  of 
water. 

SHEDS. 

To  raise  Angora  goats  most  profitably  one  should 
really  be  provided  with  sheds.  These  sheds  should 
be  about  the  same  as  those  which  are  provided  for 
sheep  in  the  same  locality.  For  years  southern  and 
western  breeders  have  made  a  success  of  the  Angora 
industry,  and  very  few  of  them  have  had  any  ar- 
tificial protection  for  their  goats.  But  even  these 
breeders  find  that  they  can  raise  a  larger  percentage 
of  increase,  and  get  through  the  year  with  a  smaller 
percentage  of  loss  if  they  have  sheds.  Grown  goats 
rarely  need  much  shelter,  even  in  the  winter,  if  the 
weather  is  dry,  but  during  cold,  damp  storms  the 
fleece  wets  through  and  the  animal  chills.  Just  after 
shearing,  or  just  before  kidding  season,  one  is  liable 
to  loose  some  grown  animals,  or  to  have  many  kids 
slunk,  if  the  goats  are  not  protected  from  cold  storms. 
Young  kids  also  require  attention,  and  proper  sheds 
more  than  pay  for  themselves  by  preventing  exces- 
sive mortality.  Whether  the  shed  should  be  closed 


PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING.  73 

on  all  sides,  or  whether  it  may  be  left  open,  depends 
upon  the  locality.  Do  as  one  would  for  sheep,  under 
the  same  conditions,  will  be  a  fairly  safe  rule  to  fol- 
low. Allow  at  least  four  or  five  square  feet  of  shed 
room  to  each  mature  animal,  and  the  danger  of  the 
goats  crowding  together  in  the  corners  and  smother- 
ing the  animals  on  the  underside  of  the  pile,  should 
never  be  forgotten.  On  very  cold  nights  large  num- 
bers, especially  of  the  kids,  may  be  killed  by  smoth- 
ering, if  they  are  not  carefully  watched. 

FENCES. 

The  question  of  fencing  for  the  Angora  goat  is 
not  such  a  serious  matter  as  the  beginner  would  im- 
agine. If  the  goats  have  not  been  raised  as  pets  and 
taught  to  jump,  there  will  be  little  trouble  with  the 
animals  going  over  a  perpendicular  fence  of  ordi- 
nary height.  They  will,  however,  go  through  or  un- 
der the  fence,  if  it  is  possible.  They  are  natu- 
ral climbers,  and  if  the  fence  offers  projecting  steps, 
upon  which  they  can  climb,  they  will  soon  find  their 
way  to  the  outside  of  the  enclosure.  Some  of  the 
old  stone  and  rail  fences  will  not  hold  goats.  Any 
perpendicular  fence,  three  feet  high,  with  transverse 
spaces  not  wider  than  three  or  four  inches  for  the 
lower  two  feet,  and  not  wider  than  six  inches  for  the 
upper  foot,  will  hold  goats.  If  the  spaces  in  the 
fence  are  perpendicular,  they  will  necessarily  have  to 


74  PRACTICAL  ANGOKA  GOAT  RAISING. 

be  narrower,  as  small  kids  will  crawl  through  the 
spaces.  A  woven-wire  fence,  two  feet  high,  with  a 
perpendicular  stay,  at  least  twelve  inches  apart,  so 
that  the  goats  will  not  get  their  heads  caught  in  the 
fence,  surmounted  by  a  couple  of  plain  or  barbed 
wires,  six  inches  apart,  will  hold  goats,  and  if  barbed 
wire  is  used,  will  prevent  cattle  from  breaking  the 
fence.  If  plain  or  barbed  wire  is  used,  the  first 
three  wires  nearest  the  ground  should  be  placed  not 
more  than  three  inches  apart,  and  close  enough  to 
the  ground  to  prevent  kids  from  crawling  under  the 
lowest  wire.  The  space  between  the  next  wires  may 
be  increased  to  four,  five  and  six  inches,  and  so  on 
to  the  desired  height  of  the  fence.  A  board  fence 
composed  of  three  boards  four  inches  wide,  with  a 
space  between  the  ground  and  the  first  board  of 
about  three  inches,  and  a  three  or  four  inch  space  be- 
tween the  boards,  the  whole  being  surmounted  by  a 
barbed  or  plain  wire  or  two  makes  a  very  satisfactory 
goat  fence.  If  pickets  or  posts  are  used,  they  should 
be  set  closely  enough  together,  say  about  two  inches 
apart,  to  prevent  small  kids  from  crawling  between 
them.  An  objection  has  been  raised  to  barbed  wire, 
on  account  of  the  mohair  which  the  barbs  pull  out. 
The  amount  of  mohair  lost  in  this  way  is  inconsid- 
erable. As  has  been  stated,  it  hurts  the  goat  to  pull 
the  mohair,  and  the  goat  soon  learns  to  avoid  the 
barbs.  Many  breeders  use  barbed  wire  corrals  and 


PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING.  75 

find  them  satisfactory.     Probably  woven  wire  is  the 
best  fence  under  ordinary  conditions. 

HERDING. 

In  mountainous  countries,  where  it  is  not  practical 
to  fence  the  range,  the  flocks  should  be  watched  by 
herders.  The  Angora  has  a  natural  tendency  to  return 
home,  or  to  a  known  camping  ground  at  night,  and 
in  some  places  this  tendency  is  relied  upon  to  bring 
the  flock  home,  and  they  are  not  herded.  Of  course, 
in  countries  where  there  is  no  danger  from  loss  by 
depredations  of  wild  animals,  and  where  food  is  so 
plentiful  that  the  goats  must  find  a  sufficient  amount, 
the  flock  may  be  turned  loose. 

One  shepherd  should  tend  from  one  to  two 
thousand  head,  as  goats  flock  together  well.  Of 
course,  during  kidding  season  the  flocks  will  have  to 
be  more  closely  watched.  Goats  travel  rapidly  and 
cover  a  considerable  amount  of  territory  in  a  day. 
A  flock  may  travel  from  ten  to  twelve  miles  from  the 
time  they  leave  camp  in  the  morning  until  they  re- 
turn to  camp  in  the  evening.  The  herder  should 
walk  ahead  of  the  leaders  of  the  flock,  so  that  they 
will  not  travel  too  fast,  or  he  may  walk  upon  a  nearby 
elevation,  so  that  he  can  see  that  the  flock  does  not 
separate.  A  flock  will  sometimes  string  out  over  a 
mile.  The  goats  should  be  given  freedom.  Too 
often  a  zealous  herder  overworks  himself  and  keeps 
his  flock  poor  by  crowding  them  together.  A  good 


PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING. 


77 


sheep  herder  soon  learns  the  nature  of  the  goat,  and 
when  he  understands  the  animal  he  would  rather 
herd  goats  than  sheep. 

DOCS. 

In  some  sections  of  the  country  sheep-killing 
dogs  have  proven  a  great  nuisance  to  sheep-breeders. 
To  say  that  the  Angora  goat  will  prevent  dogs  from 
killing  sheep,  and  that  they  will  drive  the  dogs  away, 
would  be  a  misstatement.  Bucks  and  grown  goats 
will  protect  themselves  to  some  extent.  If  a  strange 
dog  attacks  a  flock  in  a  field,  the  goats  will  usually 
huddle  together  and  the  bucks  and  grown  animals 
will  keep  the  dog  at  bay.  A  mother  will  fight  bravely 
to  protect  her  kid. 


KIDDING  ANGORAS. 


expererience  of  years  has  taught  the 
Turk  that  if  he  wishes  to  save  many 
kids,  he  must  have  them  come  late  in 
the  season.  The  changeable  weather  of 
the  Turkish  spring,  the  frequent  cold 
rains  and  the  lack  of  proper  shed  accommodations, 
have  more  than  once  not  only  destroyed  the  increase, 
but  also  killed  the  grown  goats.  The  Turkish  methods 
of  handling  kids  are  of  little  practical  value. 
They  know  how  delicate  the  kids  are  when  they 
are  born,  and  they  usually  bring  the  kid  and  its 
mother  to  the  house  as  soon  as  it  is  dropped. 

The  Turkish  Angora  goat  men  usually  range 
small  flocks,  and  they  also  have  a  surplus  of  help,  so 
that  this  is  a  comparatively  easy  method.  The  kids  are 
allowed  to  go  with  the  flocks  as  soon  as  they  are  old 
enough  to  travel.  The  principal  objection  to  letting 
young  kids  go  with  the  flock  is  that  the  kids  go  to 
sleep,  and  sleep  so  soundly  that  the  flock  feed  away 
from  them.  When  the  youngsters  awake  they  are  lost. 
If  there  be  wild  animals  about,  the  kids  may  be  killed, 
or  they  may  starve  before  they  are  found.  The 
Turk,  however,  has  so  many  herders  with  one  flock 


PKACTICAL  ANGOKA  GOAT  RAISING.  79 

that  they  usually  discover  the  kids  before  the  flock 
has  strayed. 

In  America  the  kidding  season  is  the  most  im- 
portant time  of  the  year  for  the  Angora  breeder.  If 
he  would  raise  a  large  increase,  he  must  be  properly 
prepared,  and  he  must  be  constantly  alert.  If  the 
weather  be  fair,  with  bright  sunshiny  days  and 
temperate  nights,  the  kids  will  do  well  without  much 
care,  but  if  it  be  cold,  stormy  and  muddy,  some  of 
the  kids  will  be  lost  in  spite  of  all  care.  After  the 
kids  are  born  the  mothers  should  have  such  food  as 
will  produce  the  greatest  amount  of  milk.  Well-fed 
mothers  make  strong  healthy  kids.  Green  feed  is 
desirable. 

The  proper  season,  then,  for  the  kids  to  come 
will  depend  upon  the  climate  and  range  conditions. 
Allowing  for  the  period  of  gestation,  which  is  about 
five  months,  the  bucks  can  run  with  the  does  as  early 
or  as  late  as  one  wishes.  One  can  be  guided  some- 
what by  the  time  sheep  men  allow  ewes  to  lamb. 
When  tihe  first  warm  weather  comes  the  goats  usually 
commence  to  shed  their  mohair,  and  as  it  is  too  early 
in  the  season  for  the  kids  to  be  dropped,  the  does  must 
be  shorn  before  kidding  or  the  mohair  lost.  Care 
should  be  exercised  in  handling  the  does  heavy  with 
kid.  For  the  first  few  days  after  shearing  the  doe 
should  not  be  allowed  to  chill,  as  she  may  abort.  In 
some  countries  it  is  possible  to  kid  before  shearing, 


80  PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING. 

but  there  is  no  practical  objection  to  shearing  before 
kidding,  provided  proper  care  be  exercised. 

HANDLING  OF   KIDS. 

There  are  various  methods  in  use  of  handling 
the  young  kids,  and  all  of  them  are  intended  to  save 
as  large  a  percentage  of  increase  as  possible  with  the 
least  possible  expense.  Almost  every  man  who  has 
handled  goats  has  some  individual  idea  which  ex- 
perience has  taught  him.  The  locality  and  surround- 
ings of  the  flock  make  a  vast  difference  in  the  way 
they  should  be  kidded.  The  method  which  works 
best  with  fifty  or  one  hundred  does  in  a  fenced  brush 
pasture  in  Oregon  or  Iowa,  would  be  useless  with  a 
flock  of  a  thousand  or  fifteen  hundred  in  the  moun- 
tains of  Nevada  or  New  Mexico,  where  there  is  often 
no  corral  to  hold  the  goats. 

With  a  bunch  of  from  fifty,  to  two  hundred  and 
fifty,  and  a  shed  big  enough  to  hold  the  entire  lot,  it 
is  not  difficult  to  raise  a  very  large  percentage  of  kids. 
If  the  does  are  kept  in  a  ten  or  twenty-acre  pasture, 
they  should  be  allowed  to  run  out  and  take  care  of 
themselves  as  much  as  possible.  The  doe  may  drop 
her  kid  wherever  she  may  happen  to  be,  and  she  will 
almost  invariably  take  care  of  it  and  coax  it  to  the 
shed  at  night.  The  refusal  of  a  young  doe  to  own 
her  kid  must  be  overcome,  especially  if  the  weather 
is  unfavorable.  The  mother  must  be  caught  and  the 


PKACTICAL  ANGOKA  GOAT  RAISING.  81 

milk  forced  into  the  kid's  mouth  until  he  learns  to 
suckle.  After  he  has  been  sufficiently  fed,  place 
them  together  in  a  box  stall  and  leave  them  for  a 
day  or  two.  Then,  in  all  probability,  the  mother  will 
take  care  of  her  kid. 

The  box  stall  is  about  three  feet  square  and  three 
feet  high,  with  a  little  door  on  hinges  to  save  lifting 
the  animal.  A  row  along  the  inside  of  the  shed  next 
to  the  wall  is  a  great  convenience.  A  doe  with  her 
kid  should  be  disturbed  as  little  as  possible,  because, 
as  a  rule,  she  knows  how  to  care  for  her  kid  better 
than  a  herder. 

When  goats  are  handled  on  a  larger  scale,  with  no 
pasture  available,  entirely  different  methods  should 
be  adopted—  for  the  mother  must  go  out  to  feed  every 
day  and  the  kid  cannot  go. 

Probably  the  most  extensively  used  methods  are 
the  "  corral  method "  and  the  "  staking  method," 
either  used  individually  or  combined. 

THE    CORRAL    METHOD. 

In  the  corral  method,  two  or  three  large  corrals 
and  numerous  smaller  ones  are  necessary.  First,  the 
does  should  be  separated  from  the  wethers,  if  they  have 
been  running  together,  and  a  "  wether  band  "  made. 
Then  every  morning  the  "  doe  band  "  must  be  looked 
over  carefully  for  does  that  will  kid  during  the  day. 
Such  does  must  be  put  in  a  corral  by  themselves  and 
allowed  to  kid  in  this  corral.  They  should  be  fed  some 


82  PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING. 

hay,  or  if  that  is  not  possible,  they  should  be  herded 
Dear  by  for  a  few  hours.  It  has  been  our  experience 
that  most  of  the  kids  will  come  between  the  hours  of 
ten  in  the  morning  and  four  in  the  afternoon.  The 
more  does  which  one  can  pick  out  in  the  morning  the 
better  it  is,  for  the  doe,  after  dropping  her  kid,  is 
allowed  to  stay  with  it  the  rest  of  the  day  and  all 
night.  In  this  way  she  learns  to  know  it.  If  one  has 
hay  to  feed  the  doe,  so  that  she  may  be  left  with  her 
kid  for  one  or  two  days,  it  is  a  great  advantage. 

After  all  the  does  have  been  selected  which  can  be 
found,  still  some  will  be  overlooked,  and  they  will 
go  out  on  the  range  with  the  rest.  The  best  way  to 
handle  these  is  to  have  the  herder  make  a  straight 
drive  to  a  certain  point  where  the  feed  is  good,  and 
then  stay  around  this  one  place,  allowing  the  kids  to 
come  within  as  small  a  radius  as  possible  without 
starving  the  goats.  If  it  is  necessary,  quite  a  dis- 
tance can  be  covered  in  this  way,  and  yet  the  kids 
will  not  be  scattered  over  a  large  section  of  the 
country. 

As  a  kid  is  dropped,  the  doe  should  be  allowed  to 
remain  with  her  kid  and  take  care  of  it  until  evening. 
The  herd  will  gradually  feed  from  them,  but  it  should 
be  kept  as  near  as  possible  to  protect  the  kids  from 
wild  animals.  Towards  evening  one  must  go  out 
and  gather  up  the  kids  and  drive  the  mothers  to  the 
corral.  The  large  herd  should  be  driven  home  in 


PKACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING.  83 

advance,  keeping  a  little  apart  from  the  does  with 
kids  so  as  not  to  coax  the  "  wet  does  "  away  with  the 
"dry  herd." 

When  the  wagon  with  the  kids  reaches  the  ranch, 
the  kids  should  be  put  in  a  small  corral.  They 
should  be  placed  a  few  feet  apart,  and  the  mothers 
should  be  allowed  to  select  their  own  kids.  They 
also  should  be  allowed  to  remain  in  the  corral  for  the 
night  at  least.  In  case  a  doe  will  not  take  her 
kid  she  should  be  placed  in  one  of  the  box  stalls  and 
a  kid  which  has  no  mother  placed  with  her  and  fed. 

When  plenty  of  small  corrals  and  good  hay  are 
available,  each  day's  kids  should  be  left  in  a  separate 
corral  until  the  mothers  have  been  with  the  kids  one 
or  two  days.  It  will  be  found  that  the  kids  are 
always  given  a  very  good  start  in  this  way.  When  it 
is  deemed  advisable,  the  kids  are  put  together  in  a 
large  corral,  and  as  soon  as  the  mothers  in  the 
smaller  corrals  are  thought  to  know  their  kids  suf- 
ficiently well,  they  are  added  to  this  wet  band  in 
the  large  corral.  Thus  the  round  is  completed  from 
the  dry  band  to  the  wet  band,  the  small  corral  being 
simply  an  intermediate  step  to  insure  familiarity  be- 
tween the  doe  and  her  kid.  The  dry  band  rapidly 
diminishes  while  the  wet  band  increases. 

The  mothers  are  now  ready  to  go  on  the  range 
during  the  day  to  feed,  but  the  kids  should  be  kept  in 
the  corral  until  they  are  at  least  six  weeks  old.  The 


PRACTICAL  AN Ci OKA  GOAT  RAISING.  85 

does  may  be  turned  out  over  a  "jump  board"  placed 
across  the  gate.  A  jump  board  is  a  two-inch  plank, 
eighteen  inches  high,  with  a  four-inch  strip  nailed  on 
the  top  for  the  does  to  put  their  feet  on  as  they  jump 
over.  The  kids  come  to  the  board  but  cannot  get 
over.  If  some  of  the  larger  kids  bother  by  trying 
to  get  over,  some  one  can  stand  at  the  gate  to  scare 
them  back  by  pounding  on  the  board  with  a  stick. 
The  does  will  soon  learn  to  pay  no  attention  to  the 
noise. 

Even  now  there  will  be  a  few  kids  which  will  not 
be  mothered.  Every  morning,  before  the  wet  band  is 
allowed  to  go  over  the  jump  board,  one  should  walk 
through  the  herd,  pick  out  the  kids  that  have  not 
been  nourished  during  the  night,  and  select  does  that 
are  not  suckling  kids.  These  does  should  be  held 
until  the  kids  have  been  fed.  A  row  of  small  stan- 
tions  is  a  convenient  thing  for  holding  them.  After 
a  kid  gets  a  good  start  he  will  steal  a  living  from  dif- 
ferent does  if  necessary. 

To  kid  a  band  of  from  one  thousand  to  fifteen 
hundred  does  by  the  corral  method,  will  require  at 
least  three  men — one  man  to  herd  the  dry  band,  one 
the  wet  band,  and  a  man  to  look  after  the  kids  and 
assist  where  needed.  Often  the  wet  band  is  divided, 
or  when  one  wet  band  has  reached  the  number  of 
from  five  hundred  to  seven  hundred  animals,  another 
is  started. 


86  PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING. 

THE   STAKING    METHOD. 

The  staking  method  is  quite  commonly  used, 
and  in  certain  localities  it  is  probably  the  best  way  to 
handle  kids.  The  apparatus  necessary  is  a  smooth 
piece  of  half-inch  board,  two  inches  wide  and  four 
inches  long,  with  a  hole  bored  in  each  end.  Through 
the  hole  in  one  end  a  piece  of  rope  eight  inches  long 
is  passed,  and  knotted  so  that  it  cannot  pull  out. 
The  loose  end  of  this  rope  is  then  made  fast  to  a 
stout  stake  which  is  to  be  driven  into  the  ground. 
Through  the  hole  in  the  other  end  a  piece  of  rope 
eighteen  inches  long  is  passed  and  knotted  as  in  the 
first  end,  in  such  a  way  that  the  loose  end  of  the  rope, 
which  is  to  be  fastened  to  the  kid's  leg,  draws 
away  from  the  stake.  When  the  apparatus  is  in  use 
the  small  stick  with  the  holes  in  the  ends  acts  as  a 
swivel  to  keep  the  rope  from  tangling. 

It  is  important  to  select  a  proper  place  to  tie  the 
kid.  He  is  to  stay  in  this  place  for  about  six  weeks, 
and  he  needs  protection  from  winds  and  wild  ani- 
mals, and  should  have  some  sunshine  and  some 
shade.  Usually  a  small  tree,  a  bush,  a  fence,  or  a 
post  will  offer  a  good  place  to  stake.  The  does  which 
are  expected  to  kid  during  the  day  are  separated 
from  the  flock  as  in  the  corral  method.  The  balance 
of  the  band  are  herded,  so  that  the  kids  dropped  on 
the  range  can  be  more  easily  handled.  Just  as 
soon  as  a  kid  is  dropped,  it  is  taken  to  a.  convenient 


PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING.  87 

place  to  stake,  and  the  mother  coaxed  to  follow. 
One  of  the  kid's  legs  is  securely  fastened  to  the 
loose  end  of  the  rope,  and  the  kid  and  its  mother  are 
left  together.  The  mother  is  thus  free  to  go  and 
feed,  and  on  returning  will  know  exactly  where  to 
find  her  kid. 

Many  owners  allow  the  does  which  have  kidded 
to  herd  themselves,  as  they  usually  return  to  their 
kids,  often  coming  in  several  times  during  the  day. 
Of  course  this  necessitates  having  plenty  of  food  and 
water  within  access  of  the  staking  ground.  The 
wet  band  could  be  herded  as  in  the  corral  method. 

In  this  staking  method  if  a  mother  refuses  to 
own  her  kid,  or  if  she  dies,  the  kid  has  no  chance  to 
steal  milk  from  some  other  wet  doe,  and  unless 
closely  watched,  quite  a  number  of  kids  will  starve. 
The  rope  should  be  changed  from  one  leg  to  the 
other  occasionally  to  allow  symmetry  of  development. 
The  preparation  of  ropes  and  stakes  for  a  thousand 
kids  is  quite  a  task,  and  it  keeps  the  energetic  herder 
busy  during  his  spare  moments  getting  ready  for  kid- 
ding time. 

For  the  first  few  days  the  Angora  kid  is  full  of 
life  and  vigor  as  any  animal  of  like  age.  If  he  be 
well  nourished,  he  will  frisk  and  play  at  all  kinds  of 
antics,  until  he  is  so  tired  that  he  must  forget  every- 
thing. The  sleep  which  comes  is  so  sound  that  any 
usual  amount  of  noise  does  not  disturb  him.  It  is 


88  PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING. 

this  characteristic  which  makes  it  unsafe  to  take  kids 
on  to  the  range  with  a  flock.  The  kids  are  liable  to 
hide  behind  some  bush,  go  to  sleep  and  be  lost. 

CASTRATING. 

Before  the  kids  are  allowed  to  go  out  with  the 
flock  the  males  should  be  castrated.  The  Turk  does 
not  alter  the  males  until  they  have  developed  sexual- 
ity and  the  male  horn,  i.  e.,  the  heavy  characteristic 
buck  horn.  He  then  castrates  by  either  removing 
the  testicles,  or  by  twisting  or  destroying  the  sperm- 
atic cord.  When  the  latter  method  is  used  the  testi- 
cles and  cord  undergo  an  inflammatory  process 
which  destroys  the  regenerative  power  of  the  animal- 
The  testicles  remain  in  the  scrotum  apparently  un- 
changed. The  animal  thus  treated  presents  to  the 
casual  observer  the  physical  characteristics  of  a  buck. 
The  Turk  claims  that  an  animal  treated  in  this  man- 
ner is  less  liable  to  die  than  one  whose  testicles  are 
removed.  This  is  probably  true,  as  the  initial  lesion 
produced  by  the  operation  is  very  small,  and  there  is 
less  liability  of  infection. 

The  usual  method  employed  in  this  country  is  to 
remove  the  testicles  before  the  regenerative  power  of 
the  animal  is  developed.  This  gives  the  wether  a 
feminine  appearance,  and  there  is  comparatively  little 
danger  of  death  if  the  operation  is  properly  per- 
formed. It  will  be  easiest  to  castrate  the  kids  be- 


PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING.  89 

tween  the  age  of  two  and  four  weeks.  The  kids 
should  be  driven  into  a  small  clean  corral,  and  after 
undergoing  the  operation  they  should  be  turned  into 
a  large  clean  enclosure. 

The  operator  stands  on  the  outside  of  the  small 
corral,  and  the  assistant  catches  the  kids  and  turns 
them  belly  up  before  the  operator,  onto  a  board 
which  has  been  fastened  to  the  fence.  A  pair  of 
clean  scissors,  or  a  sharp  knife,  which  may  be  kept 
in  a  five  per  cent,  carbolic  acid  solution  when  not  in 
use,  serve  to  cut  off  the  distal  end  of  the  scrotum. 
The  testicles  are  then  seized  with  the  fingers  and 
drawn  out.  The  operator  drops  the  castrated  kid 
into  the  large  enclosure  and  the  assistant  presents 
another  kid.  Two  men  can  operate  on  sixty  kids  an 
hour.  The  testicles  are  slippery  and  some  herders 
prefer  to  use  the  teeth  instead  of  the  fingers  to  ex- 
tract the  testicles.  Under  no  circumstances  should 
any  unclean  thing  be  put  into  the  scrotum.  Death 
usually  results  from  infection,  and  infection  from  un- 
cleanliness.  A  little  boracic  acid  might  be  sprinkled 
over  the  cut  surface  as  an  additional  precaution,  but 
this  is  unnecessary  if  ordinary  cleanliness  is  ob- 
served. If  after  a  few  days  the  kid's  scrotum  swells, 
and  does  not  discharge,  the  scrotum  should  be 
opened  with  a  clean  instrument.  Less  than  one-half 
of  one  per  cent,  of  the  kids  will  die  from  this  opera- 
tion. 


90  PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING. 

RIDCLINCS. 

While  castrating  the  kids  the  operator  will  dis- 
cover that  some  of  the  kids  have  but  one  descended  tes- 
ticle. When  these  animals  are  found  the  descended 
testicle  should  be  removed,  and  they  should  be  recog- 
nized by  some  distinctive  ear  mark  or  brand.  These 
animals  will  develop  like  bucks.  It  is  a  disputed  ques- 
tion as  to  whether  they  are  able  to  exercise  regenerative 
power,  but  they  will  cover  the  does,  and  in  some  cases 
they  probably  get  kids.  The  undescended  testicle 
can  be  removed,  but  as  the  testicle  usually  lies  close 
to  the  kidney,  and  is  hard  to  distinguish  from  that 
organ  in  the  young  animal,  it  is  best  to  delay  the 
operation  until  the  ridgling  is  at  least  six  months  old. 
The  instruments  necessary  for  this  operation  are  a 
stout  rope  to  suspend  the  animal,  a  clean  sharp  knife, 
scissors  to  remove  the  mohair  from  the  place  to  be 
incised,  and  sharp  needles  threaded  with  silk.  The 
knife,  scissors  and  silk  should  be  immersed  in  a  hot 
5%  carbolic  acid  solution,  and  they  should  be  kept  in 
this  solution  except  when  actually  in  use. 

The  rope  is  fastened  to  the  hind  legs  of  the  ani- 
mal and  he  is  suspended  in  midair.  An  assistant 
steadies  the  body  of  the  goat.  The  operator  selects  a 
place  on  the  loin  of  the  goat,  about  two  or  three 
inches  away  from  the  backbone,  below  the  ribs  and 
above  the  hip  bone,  on  the  side  opposite  to  that  which 
the  descended  testicle  occupied.  He  then  shears  the 


PRACTICAL  ANGOEA  GOAT  RAISING.  91 

mohair  from  this  part  of  the  goat.  The  mohair 
should  be  removed  from  a  space  at  least  eight  inches 
square.  A  lengthwise  incision  is  then  made  through 
the  skin  and  muscles,  or  after  the  skin  is  cut,  the 
muscles  can  be  separated  with  the  fingers  and  the 
testicle  is  found.  It  usually  lies  close  to  the  back- 
bone, to  the  lower  and  inner  side  of  the  kidney.  It  is 
usually  undeveloped  and  much  smaller  than  the  kid- 
ney. Its  surface  is  smooth  and  not  indented  like  the 
kidney.  When  it  is  discovered  it  can  be  withdrawn 
through  the  opening,  and  adherent  tissue  clipped 
with  the  scissors.  The  muscles  and  skin  should  be 
brought  together  with  the  silk  thread.  The  needles 
should  pierce  the  muscles  as  well  as  the  skin,  and  the 
edges  of  the  skin  should  approximate.  No  hair 
should  be  allowed  to  remain  between  the  cut  sur- 
faces, as  the  wound  will  not  heal  rapidly.  After  the 
wound  is  closed  some  boracic  acid  powder  may  be 
dusted  over  the  wound,  and  the  goat  allowed  his  free- 
dom. After  ten  days  or  two  weeks  the  silk  threads 
should  be  cut  and  drawn  out,  as  they  will  not  absorb, 
and  they  will  irritate  the  wound.  If  this  operation 
is  carefully  performed,  and  strict  cleanliness  adhered 
to,  less  than  2%  of  the  animals  operated  upon  will 
die. 

GROWTH. 

A  kid  at  birth  is  usually  small  and  weak,  possi- 
bly weighing  from  four  to  six  pounds.     For  the  first 


92  PRACTICAL    ANGORA    GOAT    RAISING. 

few  days  of  life  he  grows  slowly,  but  as  the  organs 
adapt  themselves  to  the  new  life,  the  kid  becomes 
strong  and  grows  rapidly.  When  the  kid  is  born  he 
is  covered  with  a  coarse  hair,  and  it  is  not  until  he  is 
from  three  to  five  weeks  old  that  the  fine  mohair 
fibers  appear  growing  between  the  coarser  hairs.  The 
kid  continues  to  grow  gradually,  and  at  three  or  four 
months  he  weighs  from  twenty  to  forty  pounds.  The 
mohair  may  now  be  from  two  to  four  inches  long. 
At  a  year  old  the  Angora  goat  will  weigh  from  fifty 
to  eighty  pounds,  and  the  mohair  may  be  as  long 
as  twelve  inches,  or  sometimes  longer. 

WEANING. 

When  does  are  bred  once  a  year  the  kid  should 
be  weaned  before  the  doe  is  rebred.  This  allows  the 
doe  time  to  recuperate  before  her  maternal  powers  are 
again  brought  into  active  service.  Then,  too,  a  doe 
nursing  a  kid  through  the  winter,  enters  the  spring 
with  a  depleted  system  and  produces  a  poor  quality 
and  small  quantity  of  mohair.  The  kids  should  be 
weaned  when  they  are  about  five  months  old,  as  this 
allows  the  mother  at  least  two  months  rest  before  she 
is  rebred. 

MARKING. 

There  are  various  reasons  for  marking  goats,  and 
the  methods  employed  vary  as  widely  as  the  reasons 
therefor.  The  object  in  view  is  to  put  some  mark  of 


UNIVL  'SITY 


PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING. 


93 


identification  either  permanent  or  temporary  upon 
the  animal.  The  ears  may  be  cropped  in  certain  ways, 
a  brand  may  be  placed  upon  the  nose,  or  tags  or  but- 
tons placed  in  the  ears,  or  characters  tattooed  into  the 
ears.  Probably  the  most  permanent  mark  is  the 
tattoo,  arid  if  it  be  placed  on  the  inner  hairless  sur- 
face of  the  ear,  it  is  as  lasting  as  the  tattoo  so  often 
seen  in  a  man's  arm. 


OME  of  the  older  breeders  supposed  that 
the  Angora  was  not  subject  to  any  dis- 
ease, but  as  goats  have  been  introduced 
into  new  territory,  they  have  become 
affected  by  some  of  the  same  troubles 
which  bother  sheep,  but  usually  to  a  less  degree. 
Some  of  the  worst  sheep  diseases,  such  as  scab,  do 
not  bother  goats,  but  the  goat  has  some  special  com- 
plaints which  do  not  effect  sheep.  Very  few  carcasses 
are  condemned  by  the  government  meat  inspectors  at 
the  large  packing  centers.  Tuberculosis  is  almost  un- 
known. 

LICE. 

Nearly  all  goats  are  infested  with  lice,  a  small 
reddish  louse,  a  goat  louse.  Lice  rarely  kills  the  an- 
imal infested,  but  they  do  annoy  the  goat  greatly. 
Goats  will  not  fatten  readily,  and  the  mohair  is 
usually  dead  (lusterless),  if  the  animals  are  badly  in- 
fested. It  is  an  easy  matter  to  discover  the  lice. 
The  goats  scratch  their  bodies  with  their  horns  and 
make  the  fleece  appear  a  little  ragged.  On  separat- 
ing the  mohair  the  lice  can  easily  be  seen  with  the 
naked  eye.  The  best  means  of  ridding  the  goats  of 
this  annoyance  is  with  almost  any  of  the  sheep  dips. 


PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING.  95 

A  dip  which  does  not  stain  the  mohair  should  be 
selected.  The  goats  should  be  dipped  after  shearing, 
as  it  does  not  take  much  dip  then  to  penetrate  to  the 
skin.  One  dipping  will  usually  kill  the  lice,  but  the 
albuminous  coat  covering  the  nits  (eggs  of  the 
louse),  are  not  easily  penetrated,  and  it  is  usually 
necessary  to  dip  again  within  ten  days,  so  that  the 
nits,  which  have  hatched  since  the  first  dipping, 
will  not  have  a  chance  to  mature  and  deposit  more 
eggs.  Goats  can  be  dipped  at  almost  any  time,  but  if 
in  full  fleece  they  will  require  a  larger  quantity 
of  liquid,  and  if  the  weather  is  very  cold,  there  is 
some  danger. 

STOMACH    WORMS. 

Stomach  worms  affect  goats,  and  in  some  in- 
stances their  ravages  prove  fatal.  There  are  a 
variety  of  these  worms,  but  the  general  effect  on  the 
animal  is  about  the  same.  They  are  usually  worse  in 
wet  years.  The  goats  affected  become  thin  and  weak. 
They  usually  scour.  Sometimes  the  worm,  or  part 
of  the  worm,  can  be  found  in  the  feces.  These  same 
symptoms  are  caused  by  starvation,  so  the  two  should 
not  be  confounded.  There  are  many  drenches  in  use 
for  the  treatment  of  this  trouble,  and  some  of  the 
proprietary  remedies  have  given  some  relief.  Goats 
running  on  dry,  high  land  are  rarely  affected. 

Verminous  pneumonia  of  sheep  may  also  occur 
in  goats. 


%  PRACTICAL  ANGORA  GOAT  RAISING. 

FOOT   ROT. 

Foot  rot  is  a  disease  which  effects  both  goats  and 
sheep,  if  they  are  kept  on  low  wet  land.  It  rarely 
proves  fatal,  and  can  be  cured  if  the  cause  is  removed, 
but  it  sometimes  causes  a  good  deal  of  trouble.  The 
goats'  feet  swell  between  the  toes  and  become  so  sore 
that  the  animals  are  compelled  to  walk  on  their 
knees.  It  can  be  cured  by  carefully  trimming  the 
feet  and  using  solutions  of  blue  stone.  Goats  should 
not  be  put  on  wet  land. 

Sometimes  the  glands  of  the  neck  enlarge,  a  con- 
dition known  as  goitre.  This  is  sometimes  fatal  with 
kids,  but  usually  cures  itself.  There  is  no  known 
remedy  for  it,  but  it  is  comparatively  rare. 

Anthrax,  tuberculosis,  pleuro-pneumonia  and 
menengitis,  will  effect  goats,  but  these  diseases  are 
very  rare.  Some  of  the  southern  goats  have  swollen 
ears,  but  what  the  cause  of  this  trouble  is  no  one  has 
yet  determined. 

POISONS. 

There  are  several  plants  which  will  poison  goats, 
but  very  little  is  known  about  them.  Some  of  the 
laurel  family  are  responsible  for  the  death  of  a  good 
many  goats  yearly,  and  some  milk-weeds  will  kill  if 
taken  in  sufficient  amount  at  certain  times  of  the 
year.  These  plants  should  be  avoided  as  much  as 
possible.  Treatment  has  been  rather  unsatisfactory. 
If  the  poisoned  animal  is  treated  at  once,  an  active 


PRACTICAL  ANGOKA  GOAT  RAISING. 


97 


purgative  may  rid  the  system  of  the  irritant.     Ep- 
som salts  and  crotin  oil  have  given  relief. 

Mr.  Schreiner  describes  an  epidemic  of  pleuro 
pneumonia  which  destroyed  many  flocks  of  Angora 
goats  in  South  Africa.  The  disease  was  effectually 
stamped  out  in  that  country,  and  it  has  never  ap- 
peared in  American  flocks.  Mr.  Thompson  has  de- 
scribed a  disease  called  Takosis,  which  was  supposed 
to  have  caused  the  death  of  many  goats  in  the  East- 
ern States,  and  along  the  Missouri  River  Valley. 
Some  claimed  that  this  trouble  was  caused  by  change 
of  climate,  others  thought  that  it  was  starvation  or 
lack  of  proper  care.  There  is  very  little  evidence  of 
it  now  in  the  United  States.  All  in  all,  the  Angora 
goat  is  the  healthiest  of  domestic  animals. 


I 


Our  Own  Flocks* 


In  1865,  Mr.  C.  P.  Bailey  started  in  the  Angora 
goat  industry.  There  were  then  very  few  Angora 
goats  in  the  United  States,  and  those  in  California 
had  originated  from  two  thoroughbred  bucks  secured 
from  Col.  Peters  of  Atlanta,  Georgia. 

In  1866,  Mr.  Bailey  secured  a  pair  of  Angoras 
from  W.  W.  Chenery  of  Boston,  Mass.  There  were  two 
other  pairs  secured  at  this  time  for  other  parties,  and 
these  three  does  were  the  first  thoroughbred  does 
brought  to  California.  The  first  two  goats  cost  Mr. 
Bailey  $1000.  The  first  thoroughbred  Angora  kid 
dropped  in  California  was  by  Mr.  Bailey's  doe. 

In  1869,  Mr.  Bailey  furnished  money  to  bring 
the  Brown  &  Diehl  importation  to  California,  with 
the  understanding  that  he  was  to  have  first  choice. 
The  Angoras  secured  from  this  lot  were  the  best  goats 
which  had  been  brought  to  California  up  to  that 
time. 

In  1876,  Mr.  Bailey  selected  the  best  buck  of  the 
Hall  &  Harris  importation,  and  paid  seventy-five  dol- 
lars service  fee  for  three  of  his  Brown  <fe  Diehl  does. 
Later  he  purchased  forty-one  head  from  Hall  &  Har- 
ris. Some  of  these  were  the  Brown  &  Diehl  goats, 
and  some  from  the  Hall  &  Harris  importation  of 
1876. 

Twelve  years  after  Mr.  Bailey  commenced  breed- 
ing Angoras,  he  moved  his  entire  grade-flock,  consist- 
ing of  about  1000  animals,  to  Nevada,  and  maintained 
his  thoroughbred  flocks  in  California.  By  careful 
selection,  rigid  culling,  and  strict  attention  given 


his  flocks,  Mr.  Bailey  had  brought  them  by  1892,  to 
an  excellence  beyond  any  of  the  imported  stock. 

In  1893,  Mr.  Bailey  imported  two  fine  bucks 
from  South  Africa.  An  account  of  the  buck  Pasha 
will  be  found  in  this  book. 

In  1899,  another  direct  importation  from  South 
Africa  was  made,  and  the  great  sire  Capetown  was 
secured. 

In  1901,  Dr.  W.  C.  Bailey  secured  four  of  the 
best  Angoras  obtainable  in  Asia  Minor,  by  personal 
selection,  and  added  them  to  the  Bailey  flocks.  This 
was  the  first  importation  made  in  America  from  Asia 
Minor  for  twenty-five  years. 

During  all  these  years,  since  1865,  Mr.  Bailey 
had  been  constantly  at  work  with  his  Angora  flocks. 
There  were  many  hardships  to  overcome,  and  most  of 
the  original  Angora  breeders  gave  up  the  struggle. 
We  honestly  believe  that  if  it  had  not  been  for  his 
perseverance  the  Angora  industry  would  not  be  in  its 
present  prosperous  condition. 

Register. 

We  have  been  keeping  a  register  of  our  stock, 
and  this  register  is  the  oldest  in  the  United  States,  or 
the  world.  Animals  registered  in  the  Bailey  Angora 
Goat  Record  have  a  universal  standing. 

Manufacturers  of  Gloves,  Robes  and  Trimmings. 

The  Angora  Robe  and  Glove  Company  was  estab- 
lished in  1875,  with  C.  P.  Bailey  as  president.  Later 
Mr.  Bailey  secured  sole  control  of  this  company.  We 
have  been  using  goat  skins  and  mohair  in  large  quan- 
tities for  the  last  thirty  years,  and  to-day 

WE  PAY  THE  HIGHEST  CASH  PRICES  FOR  COAT  SKINS 
AND  MOHAIR. 


Buck  Selections. 

From  the  above  history  it  will  be  seen  that  we 
have  several  different  strains  of  bucks  to  offer,  and 
the  fact  that  we  have  taken  the  Grand  Prizes  and 
highest  awards  at. the  New  Orleans  World's  Fair, 
1885,  Chicago  World's  Fair,  1893,  St.  Louis  World's 
Fair,  1904,  and  sweep  stakes  at  State  Fairs  and  Na- 
tional Meetings  for  the  last  thirty  years,  should  put 
these  bucks  on  the  top.  We  have  sold  thousands  in 
United  States,  and  they  have  given  almost  univer- 
sal satisfaction. 

Does. 

Our  thoroughbred  does  trace  their  ancestry  to 
the  best  stock  obtainable.  We  always  have  a  good 
many  grade  Angora  does  on  the  range,  and  we  are 
prepared  to  quote  prices  on  carloads,  or  small  lots. 
We  gladly  furnish  information. 

C.  P.  BAILEY  &  SONS  CO., 

San  Jose,  California. 


PERSIAN    FAT    TAIL    SHEEP 

In  1892,  we  received  the  first  importation  of  Persian  Fat-Tailed 
Sheep.  They  are  very  hardy,  rapid  growers  (the  lambs  often  gaining 
a  pound  a  day  for  the  first  one  hundred  days,)  good  rangers  almost  free 
from  disease,  and  to  cross  onto  fine  wooled  sheep  for  mutton  and  wool, 
we  consider  them  of  much  value. 


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